Shard of the Star: The Story of Destiny Starshard
by Goldenstar13
Summary: "Remember, Michael. Await the Shard of the Star." These words were said about a prophecy spoken centuries ago, and now the prophecy is about to come true. T for safety.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: 300 Years Ago**

Long ago, in a dimension parallel to our own, a world of magic thrived.

In this world of magic, hundreds of wizards lived and trained in one of the seven schools of magic at a university known as Ravenwood School of the Magical Arts—Ravenwood for short. The headmaster, an old being known only as Professor van Helven (James to his few friends), taught his students as they came and went. He introduced and saw off nearly twenty professors and over two thousands wizards.

Professor van Helven was an old man who had been blown into the parallel dimension during the Revolutionary War. When experimenting with his father's chemicals, he had mixed two compounds that caused them to explode in his face and send him to the new dimension, the Spiral, where he had met the then current Headmistress, Grandmother Raven, who saw promise in him and trained him in the ancient elemental magics, Ice, Storm, and Fire alongside hundreds of other wizards. When Grandmother Raven retired, Professor van Helven was the obvious choice for Headmaster and took over. The magic that he learned and the chemicals that had brought him to the Spiral extended his life to the point where he lived for over two centuries longer than humanly possible.

But now, after two hundred years of living in the Spiral, Professor James van Helven was dying.

"I can walk, Michael." he chastised his pet phoenix as he rose to gently guide his master back to his bed. "I just need to stretch my legs." Professor van Helven walked to the window and looked through it at the wizards racing through the capital of the Spiral, Wizard City.

"Michael, Bartebly has told me that he sees a wizard coming one day…one who will save the Spiral from certain danger."

Michael cocked his head, a signal for Professor van Helven to continue.

"She will be a child from my home, earth. She will be a Theurgist, a Life wizard. Shard of the Star, Michael. Bartebly told me to wait for the Shard of the Star."

Professor van Helven moved away from the window and lifted a fist to his mouth to cough. He moved back to his bed, sat, and gasped for breath, even though he knew that his time had finally come and it would be easier to just close his eyes and go to sleep. Michael took flight and alighted on his master's shoulder. A professor stroked his bird. An Elemental wizard ruffled it's feathers. And James van Helven, the first Headmaster of Ravenwood, whispered to his phoenix,

"Remember, Michael. Await the Shard of the Star."

* * *

><p>All went silent as word reached the streets that the beloved Headmaster of Ravenwood School of the Magical Arts had passed away. His successor, an old man named Merle Ambrose, was called up immediately and given the title of Headmaster. His pet owl Gamma, who was best friends with Michael, went to comfort his friend.<p>

"What did he say to you, my friend?" he asked as Michael sat next to the coffin his master was being lowered in to.

Michael shook his head. He would tell Gamma when the time was right. But for now, he alone was to watch and wait for the Shard of the Star.


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to the Spiral

**Chapter 1: Welcome to the Spiral**

In a small town in Colorado, a young sixteen year old girl was bored out of her mind. She lay sprawled on the couch in a mostly empty house, channel-surfing.

This teen had brown hair and eyes and a pair of glasses that were constantly perched precariously on her nose. She was of average height and weight. She also bore a strong level of compassion for learning, the environment, animals, and reading.

The world also thought she was insane.

This is me. Sarah A none-of-your-business, at your service.

Yep, the world thought I was insane. Everybody but my family. Me? I believe that there's a very fine line between genius and insanity. I think that I have one foot in both sections. The rest of the world? They think I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train...

But I'm not here to pay the world a favor. I take my life and I work it into what I want, not what everyone else thinks it should be.

I wish that someone I know who's my age would see that, and understand that. But they don't. They never will. They think that I don't have a purpose in life except to help _them _succeed. But I know I do. I have a destiny. I just have to find it.

Today, I was lying on the couch in the living room, moving through my new science fiction book. It was raining buckets outside, but I didn't mind. I'm weird like that. Plus, it's Colorado. We get snowstorms that would make you drop your jaw and leave it there for a few minutes. I've lived here forever. I'm used to the multi-personality weather.

Little did I know that, beneath the layers of time and space, a very important discussion that would change my life was just beginning…

* * *

><p>"Ah, yes, Gamma…the spell is working…" Headmaster Merle Ambrose whispered, half to himself, half to his pet. The pair stood over a glowing silver orb in their study, watching a teenage girl read through a book. "I have found a young wizard, one with much intellect and potential…Perhaps enough potential to save Wizard City!"<p>

"Who?" Gamma hooted, though he already knew.

"She is in a very different realm…why, she hails from a place that does not even believe in magic!"

Gamma sat straighter. Michael had told him that the Shard of the Star would come from the planet earth, the home of Professor James van Helven. The old professor had told old stories about how this place did not have magic. It had been forty years since the old professor had died, and thirty since Michael told Gamma what his master had said with his dying breath.

"What is this realm called?" Gamma pushed, wishing to be sure.

"It is called earth," Professor Ambrose answered absentmindedly, still focused on his spell.

Gamma nodded and flapped his wings, lifting off the lectern. Michael would be overjoyed to hear about this.

"I wonder what sort of wizard is hiding within her," Professor Ambrose mused.

"Bring her here," Gamma hooted, flying over to a large book and opening it to the first page.

"Ah, yes, Gamma. Good idea."

Professor Ambrose raised his staff (which also doubled as a wand) and tapped the end on the floor three times. With a mighty bang, a magical earthquake tore from the spot and traveled out from his tower, across the city, across the Spiral, and finally out to the realms that bordered this dimension.

"She will be here soon," the headmaster sighed, setting his staff down and leaning against it. A summoning spell took much out of the old man.

Gamma nodded and rose from the lectern. Time to notify Michael.

* * *

><p>I had finally chosen to watch <em>Singin' In the Rain<em> for at least the fifth time that summer. Old musicals. Gotta love 'em.

When the titular dance number began, though, suddenly the screen flashed blank. The lights flickered on and then off, once. I noticed that outside the windows, it was getting darker. Clearly, something big and nasty, also known as a storm, was just getting started.

A thundercrash equivalent to five thousand cannon blasts tore through the building. After my heart reacted with a second-long tightening and I'd automatically covered my ears, I hoped that the sound wasn't enough to wake up my little sister, who would come and annoy me to death.

Thankfully, she didn't come running. My parents, who were both taking a nap, didn't awaken.

Now, I wish that they had.

Before I even knew it, there was a gaping black hole in the middle of the living room, sitting in the middle of the floor. The coffee table disappeared into the once-solid floor, quickly followed by a few cat toys that she'd been massacring. The couch went next, and I jumped clear just as my books and phone were sucked in.

Now, those things are important to me. Like, really important. But I wasn't about to dive into a black hole to retrieve things that I wouldn't be able to use again since I would likely be dead.

Sitting on the floor, pondering that thought and trying to figure out why and how exactly this was happening, here and now of all places, I didn't notice that I was being pulled towards the black swirling mess in the middle of the floor till I was halfway inside.

Then I came to life.

I screamed. I kicked. I made swimming motions. I stopped moving in, but at the same time my attempts weren't enough to pull me out. There wasn't anything close enough to grab, and even then it would probably be the next thing the hole dragged in.

I really only had one choice. I ran the Lord's Prayer through my head and finished with the 'amen' before I stopped moving and let the black hole pull me in.

Gamma, a just-summoned Michael, and Professor Ambrose were quick to catch the young girl as she fell through the rip in space onto the wood floor.

* * *

><p>"My, her clothes are strange…" Professor Ambrose waved his wand and the girl was instantly bedecked in a white wizard's robe, complete with a hat and boots. Gamma flew over and repeatedly hooted in her ear, effectively waking her up.<p>

For a few moments, the girl simply blinked and looked around, her bespectacled eyes examining the room, her hands and feet twitching as if she was seeing if she was actually there. Or anywhere, really. Then she sprung to her feet and screamed, "What on the blessed planet is going on here?!"

She noticed the owl, the old, strangely dressed man, and the bird that was on fire and backed away, taking in her surroundings again, looking for a weapon.

"Where am I?" the girl hissed. "I think I have a right to know."

Professor Ambrose nodded. "You are right; you do have a right to know." He smiled, "You are in Wizard City, the capital of the Spiral." Then he smiled wider and added the zinger:

"And you, my dear, are a wizard."

* * *

><p><strong>Hello! If this is your first read, then hello and welcome, the viewing room is right over there. If this is your second or third or whatever read, then hello again! This is Chapter 1.2.0 because I needed to rewrite it or I'd go a bit batty. Changes: Ages, the way spells work out, grammar, spelling, writing quality, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And I think I made it a bit better...I hope...<strong>


	3. Chapter 2: Malistaire

**Chapter 2: Malistaire**

When the old man said I was a wizard, I laughed. Wizard? Me? Nah.

Normally I wouldn't laugh at my elders, but I was so confused and shell-shocked and really a bit scared that my manners had been practically switched off.

"I am not a wizard," I began slowly, briefly wondering if perhaps this man was perhaps a bit sick in the head. Might as well be gentle. "Sure, I can do a few card and rope tricks, but those have explanations. Magic, not so much."

The old man shook his head. "No, you are most definitely a wizard. The spell told me so." Suddenly he touched his chest and I jerked to my feet, suddenly worried that he was having a heart attack. Or maybe worse.

"Where are my manners? My name is Professor Merle Ambrose, Headmaster of the Ravenwood School of the Magical Arts. This is Gamma, my pet, and this is Michael, my advisor." He gestured to the owl with the graduation cap and glasses and then to the orange bird that appeared to be (and upon closer inspection apparently was) on fire, who both nodded respectfully. Eying the fiery bird, I figured I'd better introduce myself as well.

"I'm Sarah K-" I stopped myself before I gave my last name, leaving only the first letter to the imagination.

"Sarah. A very nice name. Well, Miss Sarah, welcome to the Spiral. And please believe me, you are a wizard. There is power in you, and Gamma told me that it was time to bring you here. Please, will you step over to this book and answer these questions?"

So now I was a wizard and the owl had told the old man that it was 'time' to bring me here. Wherever 'here' was. But until I could figure out the where and the why and the how, I might as well play along.

I cautiously skirted the edges of the room and opened the huge book that the Professor had pointed out. After a good layer of dust floated into my face, I watched in awe as words shimmered to life on the page. Maybe invisible ink? I read the question and then touched one of the answers. The book flipped a page by itself and presented me with a new question that shimmered to life above new answers. Again, I touched the answer that best suited me.

After about ten questions and the odd page flips and word shimmers, the Professor came over and touched the book with the staff I now noticed he held. The book seemed to rumble and actually shook on its lectern before it flipped an entire section and presented a new section of the book. It sported the heading, 'Life Magic' in green letters on the top, which matched the dark green rune in the shape of a leaf underneath it. The owl and the fire-bird alighted on top of the lectern and looked down at the page before they discreetly nodded to each other. The old man nodded.

"You are a Theurgist, a Life wizard," he began. Then he added, "Are you prepared to begin your studies?"

My studies? All I wanted was to get home, and get home now. I didn't belong here and I needed to get back before my family noticed that I was gone.

"No thank you, Professor," I answered, my manners now steadily returning after the panic from before. "If you don't mind, I would like to go home now." I started backing away from the book and towards the door on the other side of the room. The Professor began to say something to me, something along the lines of "Give it a chance," only put more eloquently, when suddenly the door slammed shut, the temperature dropped, and a grating voice reached my ears.

"I'm afraid that that is not possible."

Slowly, I turned around. Suddenly, where there hasn't been anything before, there was a tall man, clothed in black and holding a staff not unlike the one Professor Ambrose wielded. His eyes were old and cold, his hair black and greasy, and his mustache dropping from underneath a long, hooked nose.

"Malistaire," Professor Ambrose whispered, his voice suddenly deep and a bit scared, a huge contrast from before when it had been light and cheerful like a grandfather's.

The man, Malistaire, sneered back, "Ambrose."

Malistaire turned to me and I froze, suddenly trapped under his gaze. There was something evil about him, and much like my books always described, I could see it in his eyes. My hand grasped for the doorknob behind me, but it was burning cold and I jerked my hand away. Nope, no getting out that way. And looking around, I wasn't seeing any openable windows…

"Ambrose, is this your new brat?" Malistaire's voice lightened slightly to a mocking tone as he turned back to the old Professor. "Well, my minions will make quick work of her."

Brat? Did he just actually call me a brat?

Now I was just as mad as before. Suddenly the temperature dropped again and the orb atop Malistaire's staff started glowing. Professor Ambrose threw out his hand at me and I was thrown backward, away from Malistaire.

"Sarah, Michael will help you. You defeat the draconians and I'll take care of Malistaire." The old man turned back to Malistaire while the fiery bird flew across the room to sit on my shoulder. I expected it to burn, but somehow it didn't. Just as he landed, two dragon-like creatures appeared across from me. O-Kay…this whole wizard and magic thing was starting to make way too much sense.

Suddenly, with a bright flash, there was an odd kind of field between Michael and I and the two 'draconians'. I stood in one circle that sat on the far left of three other circles while the draconians stood in identical circles on the other end of a large, circular, pitch black field.

"How'm I supposed to fight them?" I muttered. Michael leaned down towards my ear and answered, in a surprisingly human-sounding voice, "With magic."

"I don't know any magic."

"You don't need to know magic to use it," Michael answered just as a pair of cards appeared in my hands. They were about the size and shape of playing cards, only with sharper, cleaner edges, a stiffer composition, and much different faces.

One depicted an orange tiger that appeared to be on fire. A small box atop the intricate painting called it 'Fire Cat'. Underneath the painting was what looked like an ancient rune for fire, much like the green leaf rune in the book, and an odd string of words written in some long forgotten language.

The other was a green-skinned, yellow-eyed monster that was apparently a troll. There was a yellow rune with an eye inside of a triangle, and another string of words in the other language.

"These are spells," Michael explained. "If you have the cards you don't need to use the incantation, but you do need to draw the rune. Don't worry, that part's not too hard. Choose a spell, throw the card in front of you, and draw the r–"

Suddenly the fiery bird leapt from my shoulder, soared across the room, and caught a card in his talons just as Malistaire was throwing it towards the old man. With his talons, Michael shredded it and dropped the useless card into the center of the black field, where it disappeared. Then he landed on my shoulder again, grabbed one of the cards out of my hand, and threw it across the room like a square frisbee. Noticing by the yellow colored back that it was the troll, I quickly drew the eye symbol with my finger in front of me. It was sloppy, but somehow, some way, it worked. Suddenly there was a eye symbol, larger than me and made out of a yellow light, floating in front of me.

The eye symbol exploded outwards and suddenly there was a troll, the spitting image of the painting on the card, standing in the center of the black field. It turned to look at the first draconian, made an angered noise, and then chucked it's club across the room at it. The draconian ducked but the club still conked him across the head. It staggered for a moment but then composed itself.

The draconian drew a light blue snowflake rune, muttered something in a low, guttural voice, and pushed the rune forward. The temperature dropped to near freezing and the black field froze over with light blue ice. A beetle that appeared to be made of ice grew from the field and charged forward, straight for me. I tried to dodge, but it was as if there was a force field around the circle that I stood in. I couldn't get out, but I could flatten myself against one of the walls as the beetle charged past me and disappeared into the shadows. But one of it's horns caught my hand, slicing a long gash across my knuckles. I yelped and placed my hand on top of it to try to stop the blood.

While I focused on my new wound, the other draconian cast another spell (it looked like a pair of balanced scales), which conjured a very large red scorpion. The scorpion clicked it's pincers and leapt forward, aiming it's stinger and catching me in the wound. I gasped again and held my still bleeding hand. There was seering pain moving up and down my arm as the poison moved through my bloodstream.

Still clutching the gash and trying not to think about the picture I'd seen of blood after a single drop of snake venom was dropped into it, I looked up at the draconians. They had a perfect shot and they could easily kill me right where I stood. Or they could just wait till my blood congealed. But why weren't they?

"It's the etiquette of battle," Michael explained after returning with another shredded spell of Malistaire's. He perched on a stack of books behind me and elaborated, "Only one spell per battle member per turn. Even monsters who follow that Necromancer over there follow the etiquette. They're waiting for you to cast your spell." Michael cocked his head to one side and finished," I'll give you more spells as needed. Right now, just fight!"

I still held the fire cat card in my left hand, so I took it from my clenched fist, quickly glanced at the rune so I could draw it, and threw it like the bird had with the troll card. I drew the rune, even more sloppily than before since I was using my non-poisoned, non-dominant hand, and it exploded outward.

This time it was a perfect mix of red and orange light, and as it exploded it twisted into the shape of the tiger painted on the card. The tiger crouched, wiggled it's rear like I'd seen my cat do many a time, and pounced at the first draconian. As it's claws sunk into it, it disappeared in a fiery explosion that engulfed the monster. A pained cry echoed around the room, but when the fire subsided, the draconian was still standing there, a bit burnt and a bit miffed. My mouth dropped open and I turned back towards Michael, who answered my unsaid question with a, "Magic."

Despite the fact that it had just been in an explosion, the thing was still strong enough to send another scorpion at me. My eyes growing, I watched it's stinger warily and flattened myself against the wall again just as the stinger imbedded itself in the floor where I'd been standing. But the scorpion just struck again, this time with the poison sinking into a new dime-sized wound in my other arm.

Don't think about the snake venom, don't think about the snake venom…

The second draconian drew a black skull like rune, which conjured a sandy island complete with a palm tree and treasure chest that yielded forth a skeleton with a pirate's bandana, eyepatch, and cutlass. The skeleton observed me before throwing it's sword. It spun through the air and the hilt caught me across the chest, blowing the air out of me but not hurting me much. But the poison was still in my system and good gosh did my arm hurt. And my traitorous mind did take a moment to remind me of the snake-poisoned blood picture…

I was so focused on my battle that I hadn't checked up on the other two. It appeared that they were just throwing silvery and black blasts at each other, card spells being shredded by a raven I could now make out on Malistaire's shoulder and Michael and Gamma as the two men battled it out.

"Ha! Your new student is almost finished!" Malistaire gloated triumphantly when he glanced over towards the battle. Professor Ambrose just threw another silvery blast at him.

"Here, cast the unicorn spell," Michael whispered, flying past me and depositing a green card in my hand. Glancing at the green leaf rune for just a moment and not bothering to look at the picture, I threw it and drew the rune, which in itself transformed into a white unicorn with a blue mane on a grassy flowered field. The unicorn trotted towards me, knelt on one knobby knee, and touched its horn to the ground. I felt something like a gentle but not at all painful electric shock fly through me, sending the hair on the back of my neck standing up slightly. Immediately, the wounds in my arms stopped hurting and the skin closed over them with just a small white line and circle where they'd been. The unicorn, its work now finished, disappeared. I rubbed both wounds in amazement, now gladly dismissing the snake venom picture and turning my attention back towards the battle.

The first draconian drew yet another odd rune, this time a purple lightning strike. The black field was suddenly a small lake and a huge purple shark with yellow gills and marks leapt out as if to show off before it dropped back in. It's dorsal fin appeared and it swam towards me before I got a nice view of the inside of a shark's mouth. Then it was gone, and there were teeth marks on arms, but I wasn't dead like I should be. Kind of like when the draconian got burned alive.

The second draconian waved off-handedly at space and pointed at me, as if it was passing the turn to me. In fact, that was exactly what it was doing. Hey, this whole battle etiquette thing is actually kind of nice.

"Here, use this extra pip so you can cast a better spell," Michael flew back after catching and shredding another one of Malistaire's cards and placed two white orbs in little niches at my feet. "These pips are made of mana, the power in you that you use to cast spells. You gain one pip per round, and the more you have, the strong spells you can cast."

Another green card appeared in my hand, this one with a mutated tree called 'Nature's Wrath' on it. Having used the green rune once already, I threw it and drew the rune. The black field was covered in grass and a gnarled tree appeared, which turned out to have legs, arms, eyes, and hands. A rock appeared at it's feet and it leaned down to pick it up, spinning like an athlete in a hammer throw before releasing it. The first draconian was finally finished then and it fell to it's knees, pounding the floor, and disappeared. Fantastic.

The second one waved and pointed again, this time with a toothy smirk at my now empty hands. Maybe it thought I was helpless now. But Michael landed on my shoulder and dropped another card that he held in his beak. Across the back of it was a signature, and I could make out the words 'Malistaire' and 'Drake'. So he'd snatched it from Malistaire.

"This is an especially good one. Use it!"

It was another fire rune, labeled 'Meteor Strike'. Now knowing exactly how this entire battle thing worked out here, I threw the card, drew the rune, and stood back to watch the results. Suddenly a few flaming portals appeared in mid-air and some flaming meteors flew from them. One flew straight at the remaining draconian, and it was knocked flat on it's back. It tried to lift it's head, but it appeared that I had won. It sank into the ground like it's comrade and the battle was finally over. The black field disappeared, as well as the circles and the force field that had surrounded me, and I could move.

Michael clung to my shoulder as I spun to look at Professor Ambrose. The sight wasn't pretty; the old man was leaning heavily on his staff, and there was a dagger in Malistaire's right hand. The owl was slumped against the wall, his little graduation cap and spectacles fallen and broken at his side. It sounded like he was gloating, sending more blasts at and into Professor Ambrose, who kept stumbling back and aiming his staff at the evil man. But the orb atop it flickered and went out. He was beaten and he was prone, and despite the fact that I'd just met the old man, he needed help.

"You cover Gamma, I'll take Malistaire," I muttered to Michael, who flew across the room to land by his friend's side. I looked around the room and saw a very thick book lying open on the floor. With a good smack across the head, it could buy Michael, Gamma, and the Professor some time to defeat, disarm, and lock up Malistaire. I grabbed the book in both hands (it was heavier than it looked) and skirted the edges of the room till I was behind Malistaire. Professor Ambrose was now on the floor, and Malistaire's knife was visible to the world. He was going to make the killing move and I had seconds to act.

I lifted the book and smacked Malistaire across the back of his head with it as hard as I could. I heard a crack as his neck snapped to one side. He was still for a moment and I wondered if I should get out of the way in case I succeeded in knocking him out and he was about to go down.

Suddenly Malistaire spun around, grabbing and twisting my wrist hard to the side, forcing me to drop the book and yelp in pain. He looked down his nose at me and I stared up at him, suddenly defiant and not as scared as I was before.

"You wanted to go home?" he then asked quietly. I tipped my head to one side, confused, before I bobbed my head once. Behind him, Professor Ambrose was leaning on his staff again, the orb glowing. Michael had Gamma sitting on top of the quiz book, which was still open to 'Life Magic', and was perched, ready to fly, next to him.

Malistaire looked back at Professor Ambrose and then back at me before the corners of his mouth rose into a smirk. "Then he didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell me what?" I asked quietly, a chill running down my spine. Somehow I knew what the old man hadn't told me, even though it was not what I wanted to hear.

"The spell he used to bring you here, the spell that tore through time and space to drag you from your world to the Spiral, is irreversible. You _can't _go back home."

Malistaire's grip on my wrist had eased a little, but I still couldn't pull away.

"You're lying," I muttered, praying in the back of my head that he truly was. But when I looked at Professor Ambrose, his gaze turned downward and his shoulders slumped, and Michael's fiery plume dimmed substantially, I knew that he wasn't and that I couldn't go home.

Malistaire's mouth opened and he cackled, a sound I'd only heard in Disney movies. Suddenly I was mad, not at the old man, but at whoever this man was who had sicced his pets on me and called me a brat and tried to kill the Professor. The old man had good intentions, but this man most definitely did not.

Something inside of me reared it's head, my hand was glowing, and Malistaire was staggering back away from me and screaming every cuss word in the book, calling me a few choice names as well.

The red orb on top of Malistaire's staff began to glow just as the something inside of me raised my still-glowing hand. Suddenly I was frozen, the glow was gone, the something was gone, and there was a very large black blast flying straight at me that I couldn't dodge. My eyes widened just as it flew at my chest.

I was knocked back, my head smacking against the back wall. I fell forward against the floor, trying to ignore the pain that was about fifty times worse than the poison. For a moment, my mind wondered if this was what dying felt like. I opened my eyes for a moment and shut them as I saw Malistaire shadow over me.

"Well, that worked marvelously," Malistaire hissed. He must've thought I was dead, because all he did was turn me over with his boot, hiss something else at the professor, and then go silent.

After a few beats, Professor Ambrose whispered, "Get up, Sarah."

I was still in pain, but the fact that I could hear him and feel the wood floor under my fingertips told me that I was still alive.

Slowly, I sat up and opened my eyes. Everything suddenly seemed extremely bright, but I could see that Malistaire was gone. Professor Ambrose, Gamma, and Michael stood and perched in front of me. Looking around as the brightness faded, I noticed that suddenly the study was completely destroyed. Even though there had been two battles going on, with fire and explosions and everything, the study had still been immaculate despite it. But now, the floors had burn marks, the walls looked like they had been given a new black paint job, the windows were broken, and books and torn papers were everywhere.

"What happened?" I asked through a sore throat. Professor Ambrose didn't answer, walked over and gave me a hand to help me stand. Then he looked me up and down, eyes wide, and muttered, "Oh no."

As the brightness faded, I noticed that my vision was blurry. I reached up, felt my glasses, and tentatively took them off. Suddenly the world was crystal clear. I looked down and saw for the first time what I was wearing. I was wearing a long white robe and matching boots, different from my 'Keep calm and don't blink' shirt, jean shorts, and bare feet. I reached up to my head and found a hat, which I assumed was also white.

"What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

Gamma came and perched on my shoulder, his talons digging gently into the fabric. Carefully, he took a chunk of hair in his beak and pulled it over in front of my eyes.

Blond. My beautiful brown hair had turned blond.

"Oh my gosh," I whispered, clutching my hair in my hands. "What else happened?!"

"Well, I–"

"What. Happened?"

Wordlessly, Professor Ambrose grabbed a mirror from atop a bookshelf and handed it to me. I held the mirror up to my face and started, the mirror dropping from my hands and shattering on the floor.

My eyes were green.

"What did he do to me?!" I shrieked, clutching my glasses and chewing on the ear rests as I'd always done, trying to calm myself down.

"He cursed you with a very old and very powerful spell that only a few know," the old man explained. "If you survive it, which you should not have, it changed your appearance."

'If you survive it.' So Malistaire had tried to kill me. Maybe that brightness that I first saw when I opened my eyes was the infamous light at the end of the tunnel.

This wondering didn't exactly help to calm me down.

"Well, change me back!" I cried hysterically, still chewing on my glasses. The professor's response once again was not what I wanted to hear.

"I can't. It's irreversible."

Slowly, I sank to my knees and covered my eyes. So first I couldn't go home, and now it was impossible to change me back into myself. My world was just crumbling around me.

But…I had one alternative.

I stood and dusted myself off, leaving my glasses on the floor. Even though my appearance had changed, the curse had also fixed some things. I didn't need my glasses anymore.

I had used magic. What the old man had said when I first got here was true. That glowing something inside of me seemed to confirm that. I was a wizard.

"How much does it cost to enroll in this school?"

"Nothing." Professor Ambrose answered, his eyes getting that hopeful look in them.

"I would like to enroll."

Professor Ambrose smiled and offered his arm. I stepped over the mirror shards, stepping on my glasses at the same time, feeling them pop underneath my boot, and took it. Michael flew from the lectern and perched on my shoulder while Professor Ambrose's pet perched on his.

"We need to find you a new name. 'Sarah K' is not something that we would use in this world."

I closed my eyes for a moment as Professor Ambrose led us down the steps of the tower. Destiny. I'd always loved that name, and maybe this world contained my own destiny. And stars. I loved the stars. I remembered the mirror, and the shards of glass that were all over the room now.

"Destiny Starshard," I announced after I put all three names into one. "My name can be Destiny Starshard."

I looked over and Professor Ambrose nodded.

"Alright, Sar—I mean, Destiny. Destiny Starshard you shall be."

Michael dug his talons into my shoulder. I looked up at him just as he said something.

"Shard of the Star," he whispered. I could barely hear him. "The Shard of the Star will save the Spiral from certain evil."

I cocked my head but he just covered his beak with one wing, telling me to stay quiet.

Michael was silent as Professor Ambrose walked me out of 'Golem's Court', past the reagent, Mr. Lincoln's, house, past the little carnival that already had a few younger children running around it, and then into the 'Commons'. Affer introducing me to the guard standing next to it, he led me through a huge tunnel.

"Destiny," he started as we began to emerge from the tunnel. "Welcome to Ravenwood School of the Magical Arts."

**Well, rewriting that chapter and re-describing the battle was pretty fun. And I see a chance to create a language and terminology, which is one of my favorite writing activities!**

**And I made this chapter freaking long (EIGHT. PAGES), what is with me…I feel bad for long chapters, that is even weirder. **

**If you're new, welcome! The next chapter button is right down there. If you've been here before and you've got some déjà vu that's not déjà vu, then hello again! I'm rewriting chapters because I've become a better writer over the past two years and this story needs revising.**

**Thank you for your support and if you're reading through, next chapter button is right there!**


	4. Chapter 3: Bianca

**Chapter 3: Bianca**

_?_

"Oh gosh, will you look at her?"

I slowly looked away from the black crow sitting on top of the girl's dorm (I could swear it was watching me), knowing good and well that there was another student at the wrong end of Lauren's taunt. Sure enough, there was a girl walking in with Professor Ambrose and Gamma and some fiery bird I'd never seen before. Maybe her pet? She wore only white, had blond hair, and sported striking green eyes.

"Look at her hair!" Mercedes cried out. I looked at her hair. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. A bit flyaway on the top of course, but that happened to everyone. I reached up and brushed down my brown red-streaked hair just in case.

"Look at her eyes!" Rachel added, "Why does she look so serious? And they're red. Someone's been crying." Rachel gave this last statement in a sing song voice, making the other two girls nod, point, and laugh. My hands tightened on my quill. If they knew how often my gray eyes were rimmed with red…

Trying to ignore my friends, I developed my own (unsaid, granted) statement on the girl they were teasing. She had to be new, judging from the way she was looking around, probably amazed by Bartebly and the schools and everything Ravenwood had to offer. Professor Ambrose gestured at Bartebly, probably telling the new girl his name. She looked tired, sad, and scared, and one hand kept reaching up towards her eyes as if she was reaching for glasses that weren't there anymore.

"Bianca, why are you staring at her?" Lauren asked suddenly. I glanced at her and saw that Mercedes, Rachel, and Lauren were all staring at me.

"Guys, cut her some slack," I muttered. "She's new."

Mercedes shook her head. "No. She's not at all pretty, and she doesn't look like she's any popular material, and frankly, her hair? Bottle blonde. She's ugly."

I sighed underneath my breath. My best friends did this with everyone. They thought that they were the only beautiful ones in all of Ravenwood and for some reason included me in that description. Even though they used to be fun and we used to practically be sisters when we were all accepted into the school, as the years passed their ideals moved away from books and magic and splashing in the lake to makeup and hair and looking pretty and being popular. What I had planned to tell them one day became my ugly little secret, and I was terrified to tell them about the dark days before I discovered my magic.

Now don't think that just because I still hung out with them I did the same thing. I never laughed or pointed at new students or criticized their appearance. I tried to make friends with a new girl once, but Lauren had threatened me with spreading rumors (lying and making up stories was her specialty), which had made a record total of seven girls drop out and give up on magic, and I stopped trying.

My mother had told me to watch out for peer pressure before I left my family for school, and yet my own friends were pressuring me into making fun of others. Honestly, they weren't really my friends anymore. I hadn't made a new friend in the five years since their reign of popularity began, and I'd stopped trying to make any friends or help anybody out period.

But this girl looked so lost and desolate that I had a feeling that she needed someone to show her around. She needed a friend.

Just at that moment, Professor Ambrose received a letter via student. After reading it, he turned back to the girl, already walking back through the tunnel with Gamma and the fiery bird (not her pet then) flying after him, and called cheerfully, "I'll be back soon. If you want, you can look around!"

The girl turned back to the school, her eyes wide and terrified, and she squeezed her sides nervously. Right. I'd take a chance and try make make friends with her.

I put away my essay and my quill, rose from my seat on the bench, grabbed my bag with my wand and cards, and moved towards her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rachel asked, grabbing my hand and pulling me back down. Her hand was growing hot; a warning for me to stay down.

"Look at her! She needs somebody!" I snapped back, suddenly defiant. "She's new, and she looks confused and scared and she needs a friend. Come on, let me make a new friend just this o–"

"Bianca Glassheart, you leave us and we won't be your friends anymore!" Lauren snapped, a thin sheen of ice beginning to cover her (dyed) ice blue hair and her brown eyes turning the same color.

Suddenly, I was done. Done with my friends who weren't my friends, done with this whole 'popularity' gig, and done having only three friends and not being able to make any more.

"Well, I guess that that means we're not friends anymore," I said coolly, standing and walking away, trying not to think about how insane this was. I could feel Mercedes' brown eyes drilling into the back of my head. I could tell that Rachel was glaring at my back. And I could hear the ice on Lauren's hair cracking as the anger finally exploded out. It was all I could do not to look back. I was done and I was going to help the new girl out.

I walked into the center of Ravenwood, right in front of Bartebly, and tapped the girl's shoulder. She jumped and turned. For a moment I was just as nervous as she probably was. I hadn't made friends in so long…how does one start that conversation?

_Name._

"Hello," I began, smiling warmly. "I'm Bianca Glassheart, Theurgist. What's your name?"

The girl was silent, looking me up and down. Suddenly self-conscious, I fiddled with my earrings. She was taller than me, obviously older, and there was something about her, a certain air that told me that she was a mystery, and that there was a secret. Finally, the girl responded and held out her hand. I stared at it uncertainly and she withdrew it. "Destiny Starshard."

"Nice name!" I exclaimed, slamming my mouth shut the second it was out. The girl's cheeks grew red but she smiled and said, "Thanks."

Just at that moment, Bartebly opened his mouth and announced, "Class begins in five minutes."

My last class of the day was Necromancy with Dworgyn. I was about to take off when Destiny grabbed my arm. My robe sleeve rode up a little and I froze, the scars on my wrists and hands suddenly visible to the world. Destiny's eyes grew wide and she quickly pulled the sleeve back down over them. I mouthed, "Thank you," before she asked, "Would you mind telling me where the Life school is? It's my first day."

She nervously pulled the hat off of her head and rubbed the fabric between her fingers.

"Absolutely!" I answered, grabbing her hand and racing towards the Life school. Professor Wu would love to have a new student.

* * *

><p><em>Destiny<em>

Bianca pulled me through the double doors so quickly that I barely had time to register my surroundings. When we stepped inside, everything went silent. You could tell that people had been talking up a storm, but now they were all staring and I was experiencing the 'new kid' feeling that I hadn't felt for years.

"Professor Wu!" the brown-haired girl who'd dragged me in called. Bianca prodded me towards the front of the room and told me, "I've got somewhere else to be, but if you need anything, I'm here for you. Come find me later on!"

And then my new friend was out the door and I started moving towards the front of the room.

Standing with her back to me, writing something on the blackboard, was a very large…cow. On two legs. She wore a bright green sarong and wore her black hair in a particularly tight bun.

The cow turned on her heel–hoof–as the wooden doors swung shut, also revealing Geisha-like makeup. She clapped her front hooves together and clopped forward.

"Well, hello there!" she greeted cheerily, in a human voice. "I'm Professor Moolinda Wu, teacher of Theurgy here at Ravenwood. And you might be?"

She extended her right hoof and I shook it gladly, glad to meet someone who knew the whole hand shaking thing…even if it was a cow.

"Destiny Starshard," I introduced myself.

"Welcome to the Ravenwood School of the Magical Arts, my dear." Professor Wu clipped back to her desk and picked up too long sticks, one from a small holder on the chair behind it and one from inside the desk. One was long, thin, and simple. The second was an oak staff with an orb of green between two branches filled with leaves.

"Right, Miss Starshard…This baggy outfit just will not do."

She lifted the staff and I flinched. Despite the fact that the cow was obviously benevolent, I wasn't too keen about someone casting a spell on me.

Professor Wu lowered her staff and stared at me quizzically. Then, as if on cue, the fiery bird appeared. He swooped through the open window one one side of the class, dropped a note on Professor Wu's desk, and swooped out the opposite window. Professor Wu turned back to her desk, read the note, and turned back to the classroom.

"Everyone, I want you to practice your spells in the Arena for the rest of the hour. Go now!"

Everyone stood and left quickly, chattering excitedly and pulling out long sticks, staffs, and intricate boxes.

"Destiny," Professor Wu sighed, taking my hand. "Oh, I cannot imagine how hard this is for you."

So the note told her what had happened. I nodded. I'd cried in Professor Ambrose's room. I was done crying.

"Right, I understand why you flinched away." Professor Wu took the other wand, the shorter one, and waved it. A green light spiraled from it and coagulated around my clothes. The floor-length robe shortened to the length of a normal skirt. The sleeves went from baggy to tight around the arms and loose at the wrists. The boots grew thinner and the tops of them rose, so they looked like the combat boots my favorite actress was known for. The hat that still sat in my hands remained pointy, but it became tighter and a little shorter.

"Quite a personality, my dear," Professor Wu commentated. "Most of the clothes do not change so much when a personality spell is cast."

Taking that as a compliment, I muttered a thank you and replaced my hat. Professor Wu held out the thin and long wand, which I took.

"Professor Ambrose told me that the wand that had just come from Olde Town today is to be your wand. This wand, if you choose to accept it, is yours."

I rolled the wood between my fingers. The wand was long and thin, made of light wood, with a small vine curling around it, petrified leaves sticking out from it. There was power in this wand; it was obvious by how the wood was warm and how it seemed to thrum as if it had a heartbeat.

"I like it," I whispered. Professor Wu nodded.

"My students will be gone for one hour, at which point school will be over. That gives me just enough time to teach you the basics and help you get comfortable."

I nodded and Professor Wu took her staff. She waved it and a quick gust of wind blew the door open and pushed my hair away from my face. Outside of the room, everything was silent.

"Come, Sarah," Professor Wu began. "We have lots to get done within the hour."

* * *

><p><strong>Hello! My name is Elder Gold. And I would like to share with you the most amazing fic!<strong>

**(I CAN'T GET THAT SONG OUT OF MY HEAD EVERYTIME I SAY HELLO I HAVE TO STOP MYSELF FROM SINGING HEEEELP.)**

**Anywayyyyyy… I'm getting along splendidly with rewriting these if I do say so myself. So, if you're new, hello (DON'T SING)! The next chapter button is right there. If you've been here before, hello (DON'T SING) again! Please make yourself comfortable and read on.**

**If you're noticing idosyncracies in these stories, ESPECIALLY with Bianca's last name (sorry Velv!), then I'm really sorry. That's reason two for why I'm rewriting these anyway! :)**

**…I just realized that I'm doing a lot of rewriting. Warriors Unleashed (WORKING ON IT), Shard of the Star, and my real life book series. WRITER'S BLOCK HAS RELEASED ME!**

**Thank you for reading and review!**


	5. Chapter 4: The Seer

**Chapter 4: The Seer**

It was a dark and stormy night. A flash of lightning lit up a dark and dreary castle, as dark and dreary as the owner's heart…

Okay, so perhaps that's pushing it a bit. It was nighttime, with a bit of drizzling rain, and the dark castle wasn't really _dark_ or a _castle_.

It was actually more of a mansion, with over thirty rooms. The grounds took away from the grandeur, covered with decades of overgrowth and weeds, long abandoned by once eager gardeners. The once beautiful building, painted with gentle greens and decorated with swirling black designs, had long faded from its glory into something dark and depressing.

This was the remains of the Drake household.

Inside it was an entirely different story. The rooms were all plushly decorated, with paintings from Valencia, furniture from Marleybone, ancient Krokotopian art from Krokotopia, and even magical trinkets from as far away as Polaris.

And locked in the basement was an even more valuable item: a mistress of Moon magic, which, when combined with the dark arts, formed a young and very powerful seer. This young seer had been located in Darkmoor and had been 'adopted' by Malistaire approximately three months before her tenth birthday. Now thirteen, almost fourteen, the poor girl had never left the mansion since leaving Darkmoor.

"_Sibyl_!"

The call rang throughout the building. Sibyl froze, her hands hovering above her looking glass. She closed her shocking blue eyes, took a breath, and with a flick of her fingers, dispelled her newest enchantment. Pushing silver hair behind her ears, she stood, still holding her looking glass.

_Wait. And Didrika, now..._

Her door banged open and Didrika, the housekeeper, appeared, her ever-present scowl somewhat deeper.

"Malistaire wants you now."

"I hear that, Didrika." Sibyl sashayed past the black-haired woman, trying to keep her too-big hand-me-down skirts out from beneath her feet.

"And bring the mirror."

Sibyl rolled her eyes so her governess couldn't see. One, it wasn't just a mirror; the enchantments laid on it at her birth made it a looking glass, the most important part of a seer's life. But she wasn't about to turn around and lecture the old woman. The bruise on her ankle from last time still throbbed.

Climbing up the mahogany staircase, Sibyl briefly wondered what Malistaire wanted. As far as she knew, there were no threats, no one who could challenge his power.

"Ah, Sibyl. Come in. Sit."

Sibyl stood before the Monquistian desk, choosing to ignore the man's request.

"How are you today?"

Sibyl arched an eyebrow. How was she? How was she?

_I'm fine today. As fine as I can be when I'm locked up in a dungeon and I haven't seen the sun for four years, you–_

Sibyl held her tongue, keeping her bitter remark back. Malistaire could do a lot worse than Didrika.

"I have a request for you." Malistaire leaned across the desk and steepled his fingers. Sibyl slowly leaned forward to indicate that she was listening. Whenever Malistaire 'requested' something, he usually paid her in new clothes, a warm blanket, a fresh loaf of bread…whatever he could spare for his little prisoner.

"There is a girl. She is young, perhaps your age, maybe a bit older. I thought that I successfully killed her, but one of my crows reported that she is alive and well. She is powerful; she defeated my draconians without any training."

Sibyl was about to say that that wasn't really an achievement; with just an examination of the battlefield and how the enemies used their spells, anyone could fight. It would just be riskier. But then Malistaire added, "And she did it without a wand."

Now _that _was something the powerful Necromancer should worry about. Usually wizards needed a wand to channel their magic, and it was usually impossible to perform magic without the implement. But sometimes very advanced–or extremely powerful–people could perform wandless magic with the same and even a greater effect than if they used a wand.

"I want to know if she is a threat."

Sibyl didn't speak for a moment as she processed the information.

"What is her name?" she whispered.

"I left before I could recover it."

Sibyl opened her mouth. Surely the wizard could sneak into the city and find it! But before she could voice this suggestion, a headache struck her. Now, when a seer gets a headache, it usually means that they are getting a premonition. The worse the headache, the bigger the premonition.

"What do you see, Sibyl?" Malistaire snapped as the girl fell into her seat, closed her eyes, and massaged her temples. This was the worst headache she'd ever had. Whatever was coming was going to be important.

A string of events tore through her mind, one after the other, showing her what was going to happen. In each scene was a blond-haired, green-eyed girl, and five human shapes surrounded her.

"_One will come some day,_

_One who holds the shard of a star in her heart_

_With this shard, she will destroy all evil_

_And goodness will reign over the spiral._"

Malistaire snapped Sibyl out of her seat and held her in front of him.

"What does that mean, Sibyl? Sibyl, answer me!"

Sibyl wasn't finished.

"_But if she allows the Necromancer to touch her heart_

_The star will die_

_And all will be lost._"

Malistaire dropped Sibyl and spun towards his window, which had been closed and draped for decades. Sibyl sat where she had been dropped, rubbing her head.

_Did I just recite a _prophecy_?_

Only the most powerful seers relayed prophecies. Sibyl had been training for years before she was kidn–'adopted', but she was sure she wasn't as powerful as seers such as Madame Vadima. Most definitely not.

Suddenly Sibyl's skull began to pound again. She groaned and touched her head as it began.

"_You will meet five wizards._

_One takes control of Ice, the other of Fire._

_One of Death, one of Life._

_And one controls the Moon._

_One of these is a traitor,_

_One is a warrior,_

_Two hold the keys,_

_And one will lead to your downfall._"

Malistaire didn't move. If Sibyl didn't know better, she would assume he hadn't heard.

Two _prophecies? What is happening to me?_

Sibyl held her breath, waiting, hoping that there wouldn't be a third. She felt like her head had been run over by a thousand Samoorai and then again by their horses.

"Sibyl, you will go to Wizard City."

Sibyl looked up. Malistaire had opened his window. The sun was shining bright in the sky and Sibyl blinked, adjusting her mental time. Due to almost always being locked in the dungeon, she was never really on top of time. It could be nighttime and she would think it was early morning, or it could be late afternoon and she would think it was night. Like it was right now.

"Wizard City?" Sibyl repeated dumbly. Was she being set free?

"The second prophecy tells of a moon wizard. Clearly, this is you. You will find the Shard of the Star. You will find a way to lead her to the Necromancer. And we will make sure that the shard dies."

Naturally. He would never let her go free.

"If you do this, I will personally return you to Darkmoor."

Sibyl grabbed the edge of the desk and pushed herself up, staring at Malistaire.

"You'll…You'll take me home?"

"I will not waste a second."

Sibyl's thoughts immediately turned to her parents, her grandmother, and her baby sister, Awena. And if Malistaire was telling her she could go home...She clutched at her skirts and her oversize blouse.

"I'll need clothing."

Malistaire waved his wand. Immediately, she wore a skirt, a blouse, and a cloak…and they _fit_.

"Didrika will supply you with more. Camdon will transport you to the city. I assume you do not need a wand?"

Sibyl snorted. She was an Archmage and had tossed away her old training wand when she turned nine. Seers were usually quick to advance and only a few still used wands, and usually those who had learned the art.

"Then tomorrow, Sibyl, you will leave the Drake Mansion and travel to Wizard City. Now go. I must arrange your transportation."

When Sibyl left the room, she couldn't help herself. As she skipped down the stairs, she let out a whoop of joy. She would be leaving the mansion. She would see the sun. She would would return to Darkmoor.

This was turning out to be a wonderful day.

At least, it was for her.

* * *

><p><strong>*Whistling non-chalantly* Once again, if you're new the next chapter button is right down there and thank ya' kindly for reading! If you've been here before, there are just a few changes to this chapter, holes filled, grammar and spelling rechecked, things explained just a biiiiiit more…But nothing big. I have quite literally nothing to say today…<strong>

**Thanks for reading and review!**


	6. Chapter 5: Alex

**Chapter 5: Alex**

Professor Wu clopped across the courtyard with a spring in her step and at a surprisingly quick pace. Maybe getting out of her class and only having to deal with one, new student was like a vacation day for her.

"Right, dear, we shall begin here, in Ravenwood. I suppose that you have met Bartebly?"

The tree in the center of the schoolyard opened his one eye (the other wooden socket was blank), twitched his nose, and looked down at us curiously.

"Good afternoon, Bartebly!" Professor Wu greeted. "How are you feeling today?"

The tree responded in a voice that shook the cobbles beneath our feet. "Well, Moolinda, I am doing well. Ah, a new student? There are so many nowadays, and too many a few moments ago for me to take any notice. But now I suppose I can greet our new Life magic protege. Greetings, young lady, I am Bartebly."

I lifted one hand and flicked the wrist shyly. A tree that can talk. This world didn't seem to have any boundaries to it.

Suddenly from a small door in Bartleby's trunk appeared a dog. Wearing a suit, a monocle, and a top hat, walking on two legs, and dragging a trunk behind him, he was clearly some kind of dignitary.

"Moolinda, dear!" he called out a greeting as he came to stand at a corner of the courtyard. "A new student? Touring? Ah, a wonderful day for that!"

"Hello, Arthur! Destiny, this is Arthur Wethersfield, the instructor of Balance here at Ravenwood. We do not currently have a school for Balance here, so Mr. Wethersfield provides what he can until we can establish for him an office."

As Mr. Wethersfield set down his trunk and began setting out his instruments for the day, Professor Wu led me towards the tunnel. I had already seen the Commons and Golem Court, so Professor Wu showed me where the Headmaster's Office was located, then the Pet Pavilions, introduced me to Prospector Zeke and his wife Eloise, and then moved across a bridge and towards an archway marked 'Unicorn Way'. We spent quite some time chatting with the Prospector and his wife and the three gentle...things in the Pet Pavilions, so by the time we crossed the bridge school was about to end.

"We've been having much trouble with the dark fairies on this street, but I plan to show you how to fight and teach you a few new spells at the arena. Is that alright with you?"

I reached up to adjust my glasses, a habit that usually signaled to people 'okay'. Then I remembered that I didn't need them anymore and had shattered them with the mirror shards that gave me my new name. That melancholy thought shot my heart to my throat. But I nodded as Professor Wu ducked through the tunnel.

Inside, things were less than quiet. Beyond two double doors on the far right of the courtyard, someone was cheering on Bianca and some other person whose name I couldn't make out among the crazed cheering and stomping. The only things that were missing from the chaos behind the door were the familiar _stomp stomp clap_ rhythm and the chorus of _We Will Rock You_.

"Those doors lead to the Arena. The students practice dueling in there."

I nodded and followed Professor Wu down the hill and onto the street proper.

"We've sent most of our older students out to fight the fairies. You see, the sprites in the hedge maze are being somehow captured and turned into the dark fairies."

"I see." I ducked a small cage that was hanging from the lampposts. Then I turned back around to examine it. It was made from small bones, and there was a small ball of sickly green light inside. I turned the cage slightly and saw that the lock was rigged to a small piece of twine, so when something slid inside the lock popped closed.

"Professor, could this have anything to do with the dark f—"

"Destiny!"

Suddenly Professor Wu yanked me across the street and behind a large oak tree. I peeked around and saw the problem. Dark fairies, hundreds upon hundreds, were swarming across the housetops and down into the street.

"There's so many of them," Professor Wu whispered sadly with a hint of terror in her voice. She stepped back, "Stay here, I'm going to go get Headmaster Ambrose."

Professor Wu looked twice and then tore across the road, somehow moving extremely fast for a two-legged cow.

I stood there behind the tree for a moment, watching the dark fairies sweep the street and hoping that they wouldn't spot me. Then suddenly there was a flash of light blue among the purple and black. I looked up and squinted, and there, lo and behold, was a boy. He was running across the rooftops of the buildings on the street, wild and carefree. Suddenly he went flying as he leaped from one roof to the next. And then in mid-air, he threw a card in a fairy's face and her wings burst into flames.

"Dear goodness," I whispered, watching the boy flip across the housetops, firing spells left and right as the dark fairies swarmed. He was quick as a whip, throwing spell cards and drawing the runes as if he painting the fairies faces.

Suddenly, from the center of the swarm rose a larger fairy, with darker wings and a small crown set on her head. The boy was so busy that he didn't see her as she drew a small sword. Though small, it was clearly well used. One quick slash and she could hit an artery if he didn't see her in time.

Instinctively, I stepped out from behind the tree where Professor Wu has stashed me, drew my wand, and quickly drew the Fire rune from before. With a slash across the sign, it flew out, towards the fairy queen. She didn't see it till the last moment and promptly exploded into a few thousand pieces.

Still holding my wand in the same position, I quickly turned my attention to the swarm. I drew the rune again, this time bigger, and then slashed it. I was promptly blown backwards as it exploded outwards, setting the fairy's wings on fire, pushing them back, and blowing them to pieces. It didn't hurt the boy as it flew over him and destroyed the rest of the fairies.

I sat there for a moment, staring at the fireballs, cloth pieces, and retreating fairies before I slowly slid my wand back into my boot. The boy looked down at me and tipped his hat, just slightly, before executing an Olympic-ten-worthy flip off of the building and onto the ground.

"Impressive," he said as he stepped up to me. He ran a hand through his close-cropped black hair and held out his other hand. I reached out and took it, and he helped pull me up. He looked me up and down with warm hazel eyes and introduced himself as, "Alex Raventhorn, Ice Journeyman."

"Destiny Starshard, Life…Beginner? I don't know."

"Novice," corrected Alex. "And were you just spying on me, or did you have to hide there?"

"Hiding. Professor Wu left to get the Headmaster."

"Ah, are you new? Was Professor Wu showing you around? Makes sense. She sent all the others to the Arena, right?"

I nodded and Alex smiled. "Okay, then we'll go there and wait for her. I bet she'll be surprised when she hears that you destroyed the fairy swarm."

We walked back to the area with the double doors in silence, taking our sweet time since he'd been running and jumping, all on stone. Alex strode straight up to them and shoved them open.

Inside, Professor Wu's Life students were still cheering on Bianca and the other girl whose name I could now make out; Sarah.

A shiver ran down my back, but I tried to hide it as Alex and I stepped over a rope closing off the dueling circle and joined the stands. A few boys greeted and high-fived Alex. I noticed that they wore white and light blue and correctly assumed that they were Ice wizards like Alex. I then noticed that there weren't just Life students in the Arena stands.

"School ended about an hour and a half ago and a favorite pastime is watching duels," Alex began. "The other schools are Myth, Death, Fire, Balance, and Storm." He pointed to each section in turn. Each was swimming with different colored robes; yellow and dark blue, black and white, orange and red, and purple and gold. Alex didn't point to a specific section when he said 'Balance', and I couldn't see any deviations from the rest of the colors.

"Professor Wu will introduce you to the teachers later. There's the Life students."

Suddenly the Life students, who were just opposite the Ice students, yelled as Bianca drew the flame-shaped rune and slashed it. It flew to the center of the dueling circle, which ignited before rendering forth a red-and-orange armored elephant. It trumpeted before blasting the other girl, Sarah, with hot air.

"Helephant!" The Life students screamed, cheering on Bianca.

"Neat," I commented, turning to look at Alex. His jaw was slack and he was staring at Bianca.

"Hey," I tapped his shoulder and he snapped out of whatever trance he was in. He jumped and turned to look at me. "Thanks for showing me over here."

"Yeah, you're welcome. And hey, keep in touch. See you around."

Alex turned back to the center circle and stared at Bianca as I set off at a brisk pace around the circle to the Life students. Two girls who had seen me in class earlier called me over and made room between them. I thanked them, took the seat, and watched Bianca and Sarah duel it out.

It was a battle that had obviously been going on since I met Alex and helped him destroy the fairies, about twenty minutes since we'd taken time walking back and we had to avoid ghosts and more fairies as we went, but you could see that it was wearing down. Both of the girls' hairstyles had come loose from braids and ponytails. Sarah had a streak of dirty blonde hair (the only streak in her dark brown hair from what I could see) hanging in her bespectacled eyes. Bianca's brown hair was loose from the braid and tangled into knots and her face was a blotchy red. As they both reached for their spell card decks, I could see that they each only had about four cards left. A stack of used cards were lying behind them on small pedestals, glowing as if 'recharging'.

Sarah drew a scale-shaped rune and slashed it, which transformed into some kind of pointy shield that spun around Bianca's head. But Bianca didn't let it faze her. She took a stance, drew the familiar leaf-shaped rune, and summoned the nature's wrath I'd used before. The Life students shouted and stomped their feet as the gnarled tree picked up the rock at his feet and threw it. As if in slow motion, Sarah fell backwards, out of the circle, and the duel promptly ended.

"Bianca Glassheart wins!" A black unicorn stepped into the dueling ring from his position high above the Arena. He wore a conquistador's costume and held a sword at his side. At this announcement, the Life school shot to their feet and cheered and clapped. I couldn't help but compare it to football games when all of Colorado began screaming and _We Are the Champions_started playing. Looks like that a win for a person was also a win for their school.

I smiled slightly. This was so much better than any football game.

Sarah slowly stood and Bianca stepped out of her casting circle. The two girls walked to the center of the ring and shook hands before moving back to their respective schools. The unicorn crossed to a small plaque set on his referee platform and used his sword to scratch a tally for the Life school.

"The Arena is now closed, ladies and gentlemen! Have a wonderful rest of the day."

The unicorn bowed and a final cheer went up before he moved back into the shadows.

Bianca spotted me and took the stairs two at a time after grabbing her cards from the pedestal. "Where have you been?! Did you see that? What did you think? Did I do well?" The others swarmed around and congratulated Bianca on the win before they began filing out the double doors. I waited for praise to be awarded before I answered, "You did awesomely! That was amazing!"

Just then Professor Wu trotted in, a bit off kilter probably from her quick pace, and spotted me. After clopping down the stairs to reach me and Bianca, she touched a hoof to her heart and announced, "Thank Bartebly, you're alive! I saw the dark fairy remnants and I thought that you were part of it."

"Destiny destroyed them all, Professor," Alex announced, walking up, his hands folded behind his back. "The fairy queen was about to attack me and she destroyed her and then the rest of the masses."

Professor Wu turned back to me with a look of utter surprise on her face. "All of them? But you just began today! You don't know any spells, do you dear?"

"No ma'am," I answered.

Professor Wu tapped her hoof. "Well, we'll figure that out later. I went to Ravenwood when Professor Ambrose said he'd look into the problem and discovered that your dorm isn't quite ready yet. Curse that old man; sometimes he forgets that you need places to sleep! I'm trying to find a place for you to stay tonight, don't worry dear."

I was about to speak when Bianca spoke up, "She can stay with me tonight, Professor. I have enough room at my island." I turned to look at my new friend and mouthed, "Thank you."

"Excellent, excellent! Destiny, I will see you tomorrow and we can begin your studies. Good day, dear!"

Professor Wu disappeared with Alex trailing behind, throwing glances back at us. Specifically, at Bianca. I couldn't stop a smile from rising to my face as I realized what was going on with that.

"Right, ready to go?" Bianca asked, turning towards me.

"Already?" I asked. Bianca nodded and pointed at the up. The Arena was open on top (I could see ropes that probably pulled glass windows into place during storms). The sun was out of the sky and beginning to set in the west. At least that little fact about this world was the same. Before I could respond, Bianca whipped out her wand from her left boot and held it aloft. She swished and flicked it and suddenly a door appeared before us. Bianca opened it and on the other side was a green hill with a path leading down. Bianca stepped through and I followed.

"It's not much," Bianca sighed as I craned my head back to stare at the stone Cyclops holding the house on his shoulders. "But its home."

* * *

><p><em>Bianca<em>

I gave Destiny a quick tour of the grounds and then showed her the teleporter. She stepped out of the little booth it sat in and teetered for a moment as if she wasn't used to teleporters. After I steadied her, I showed her around the house and then walked to the kitchen. Destiny followed behind me and set her wand down at the old table while I looked through the cupboards and the ice chest, looking for bread and cheese.

Suddenly Destiny grabbed my wrist just as I was about to close the cabinet. She stretched onto her toes and took down a box of dry pasta, tomato sauce, beef, and a few different spices that she recognized.

"Goulash," she explained when I raised my eyebrow. I raised it higher as she got out a small pewter pot, matches, and a stone dish. Destiny turned around, lit a fire in the hearth, and set the pot over it after filling it with water from the pump I had sitting next to the wastebasket.

"Just sit down and study or do whatever it is you do at this time. I'll make dinner."

I opened my mouth to protest (she was a guest after all!) and she answered, "I don't mind. I like cooking. Sit!"

I sat and silently dug out my History of Myth Magic book, grumbling playfully.

When the water was boiling, Destiny poured the pasta inside and took it out of the hearth and set it on the wooden floor before it.

"You noticed, I hope," Destiny declared, sitting down in front of the hearth and stirring the pasta, "that Alex was staring at you."

I dropped my life magic textbook onto the table. It landed with a clean smack.

"H-he what?"

"You didn't notice? After you cast that helephant spell, he was staring at you. I've only been here for a day and I can tell that you're very powerful."

"No," I replied, blushing at the compliment. "I'm not powerful. It's just a spell that costs a lot of mana."

"How old are you, Bianca?" Destiny asked. She poured the tomato sauce into the dish, added a dash of this, a pinch of that, and then looked at the hourglass that I used as a timer. Her lips tightened, as if she was just learning to read it. Finally, she threw up her hands and started counting out the minute herself.

"Fifteen," I replied. Destiny nodded and held up one finger. "Can you tell me when ten minutes are up?"

I took the sand from the storage container underneath the bulbs and poured it up to the ten minute mark.

"Thank you. But yes, he was staring at you. Girlie, I think that someone's got a crush on you!"

"N-nah..." I whispered. I didn't do well around boys. I knew they crushed on me (I had no idea why) but I wasn't about to let anybody get to me. Nope. I wasn't strong enough for that yet.

We sat in silence for a little while longer until the hourglass ran out and Destiny dished out the 'goulash' into bowls. She handed me a fork after I told her where they were, bowed her head and closed her eyes, and after another moment began eating. I tentatively took a bite and found the 'goulash' moist and salty and spicy. "This is delicious! "I dove in and ate every last morsel.

"Thank you kindly. Most people think it's too spicy."

Destiny picked up our two dishes and washed them in the pump, dried them with an old rag on the counter, and then put the lid on the pot and into the ice chest. Then she sat down at the table again.

"So...why did you come over to me this afternoon?"

"'Cause you looked sad and utterly terrified about the first day of school, and I thought that you could use a friend," I answered, not even looking up from my book. Then, slowly, I did. "You...do consider me a friend, right?" She'd only known me for...what? Two hours? And I already considered her a friend. Was that weird?

"Of course I consider you a friend! I mean, I barely know you, but you took a chance and helped me out. So yes, I do."

"Good," I sighed, lowering my face towards my book again.

"If you don't mind me asking," Destiny began. But then she stopped and said, "No, no, none of my beeswax. Never mind."

"My scars?" I guessed, reaching over and pulling the robe sleeve up a little. They were always long nowadays, because I didn't want anyone to see my scars. I hadn't inflicted them myself, but I still felt guilty about them, and I didn't want the world to know my ugly little secret. "It's okay. I didn't do them myself, so don't worry about that. I just...don't like to talk about it."

"Okay. I won't ask. But if you need to talk, I'm here. I'm not good at advice, but I'll try my best." Destiny smiled reassuringly and I smiled back. "Thank you."

I made some hot chocolate, geeked out for a moment over the fact that Destiny was a hot-chocolate-in-the-summer, ice-cream-in-the-winter girl like me, and we both talked about school and the city and the Spiral. She talked like she'd never been here before, and I was a bit confused. But I figured that that was her business, and when I asked the first time her face dropped and she looked sad, so I just offered my services if she needed to talk and we dropped off the subject again.

Eventually I glanced at the sundial hanging in the window and gasped, "Omigosh, it's nine o' clock! We have to be at school by eight!"

* * *

><p><em>Destiny<em>

Bianca darted up the stairs to the guest bedroom, leaving me to follow her. She opened the door and stepped in. It was small and quaint, scarcely furnished, with only a bed and writing desk, with a fireplace burning in the corner.

"Thanks," I said as Bianca ran in place. Looked like she was terrified of missing school. I smiled and commented, "Sounds like you like school."

"Love it! I started only five years ago and I'm already a Master. No place to go but up, eh? Well, goodnight!"

Bianca darted down the stairs to her room. "Night!" I called after her.

Silently, I unmade the bed. Just as I sat down, I wondered what my parents and my sister were thinking right now. Then I noticed that there was paper and envelopes on the desk. An idea, an insane idea shot to my head. I held up my wand. If it…I was powerful enough to destroy all of those dark fairies in one fell swoop when I didn't know any spells, then maybe it could…

I sat down at the desk, set a fresh piece of paper in front of me, took the quill from the inkwell, and started writing. I told everything that had happened and what I knew about this place. I begged them to write back and that I would try to come back someday soon. I left that part to give them hope. I'd fib a little to ease them into the fact that there was no chance of me coming home. But if this worked, then I'd still have my family.

I looked around the room and slowly picked up my wand. I focused on what I wanted to happen to the paper, focusing extremely hard like I did when I was bored and tried to see if I could move things with my mind, and then etched the leaf rune that represented Life on the bottom of the paper. The paper fluttered and glowed and I suddenly knew that it would work. I wrote that I had charmed the paper and it would come back to me when they finished writing and all signed it. I finally finished it with an 'I love you' and then folded it up, sliding it into the envelope.

I walked to the window, closed my eyes, and prayed for it to work and for my family to keep writing. Then I threw the letter out the window.

The envelope glowed and suddenly spread tiny paper wings. I smiled as it flapped once and soared across Bianca's island and out into the distance. It flapped again and a very small portal appeared right above the door we had come through. The bird-letter flapped one more time and it was through the portal, hopefully to earth.

I sat down on the bed and inched out of my boots. Tomorrow after school, I'd try to find some new clothes for proper pajamas, and new clothes, and someplace to put my wand. I pulled the blanket over me, closed my eyes, prayed silently, trying not to cry through them, and then promptly fell asleep in this new world.

* * *

><p><strong>Bum bum bum onto the better written chapters! School also started for me today (I online school so I can usually get out whenever I want and spend the day doing whatever else), so I'll have more time to write. I'm going to try not to drop off into oblivion again, I promise.<strong>

**Alex Raventhorn is the property of Starlight in the Sky.**

**Bianca Glassheart is the property of Velvet Masquerade.**

**Sarah Bluesong (the Pyromancer that Bianca duels) is the property of Bluepatch.**

**Destiny Starshard and Sibyl are the property of yours truly.**

**Please, don't suggest characters for main characters. Sorry, but I can't have any more main charries besides the five mentioned, and the top secret character from Timberstar. HOWEVER, if you would like a one-chapter or so cameo, please PM (imagine that's triple underlined) me and we'll talk business. :)**

**Anyway, tell me what you think about the story. Thanks for reading and review!**


	7. Chapter 6: Arrival

**Chapter 6: Arrival**

It was late. Very, very late. It was so late that anyone who was actually awake would glance at their clock and say, "Hey, I should probably get to bed and try to sleep for few hours."

The moon shone in the starless sky down on a sleeping Wizard City. The city was practically silent except for the guards as they switched shifts, protecting the city from the dark fairies and undead monsters that now haunted it while the wizards who fought to destroy them slept safe in their houses and on their personal islands.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the guards and practically invisible in the darkness, a dark carriage, it's path lit by a single lantern hanging next to the door, stole its way down the city roads and towards the center of the city.

When Malistaire had said 'tomorrow', Sibyl didn't expect him to mean at one in the morning. But letting her use his second best carriage, the one that once belonged to his mother, was what Sibyl took as an apology for the early awakening. Malistaire had met her in the carriage house with Camdon, his groundskeeper and driver, and again explained her mission. She was to infiltrate the city and the school, find the Shard of the Star (Sibyl had corrected him, "The shard of _a_ star," but Malistaire had ignored her), and then lead the poor soul back to Malistaire.

After several sleepless hours, Malistaire toyed the prophecy (he'd practically memorized it) and was sure that the girl who'd beaten his draconians with no training and no wand was the Shard of the Star that Sibyl's prophecy had mentioned. He had also assumed that the Necromancer mentioned was him. Sibyl doubted that, since the premonition that accompanied the prophecy had shown her a much younger Necromancer hiding in the shadows, but she didn't want to annoy Malistaire any and let him ramble on about his plans.

Anyway, Sibyl was to infiltrate the city, somehow sneak into Ravenwood, and establish herself in one of the schools.

"Not Balance," he'd rambled on, pacing the length of the carriage house while Sibyl and Camdon harnessed the horses and prepared the carriage. "There are so few of those anymore that a sudden Sorcerer would just draw attention. Perhaps Storm. That one is the most popular and it'll be easy to blend in."

Then she was to locate the girl (Malistaire had called up the crow who'd seen her and used a spell on it's mind to show Sibyl what she looked like), find out how much magic she knew and how powerful she actually was, somehow become her friend, and then lure her to an old path off of Olde Town where Malistaire and Camdon would be waiting to ambush her. Once she was in Malistaire's power, he would then hire a ship to take Sibyl back home to Darkmoor while he took care of whatever he caught. Though it would take time, the plan was relatively simple.

Leaning forward to look out the window, Sibyl looked around in awe at the immaculate grounds that Camdon had now entered. The path they drove down was lined with tall, strong oak trees that had such long branches that it looked like they were holding hands with the tree next to and across from them. The moon shone through the trees and lit the path ahead of them as they drew closer to Olde Town. From there it would just be a hop, skip, and a jump into Ravenwood.

"Whoa," Sibyl could hear Camdon mutter as he reigned the horses that drew her carriage to a stop. She could hear him climbing down along with the sound of her trunk hitting the ground from its place atop the carriage. Then the young man opened up the door and held out his hand to help Sibyl out. Much like before, Sibyl now wore a long skirt, a blouse, and boots that fit her just perfectly. Only now they were Marleybonian in style to go along with the cover story Sibyl had created in order to sneak into Ravenwood. The story was that she was a student who had been studying abroad in Marleybone and was now returning to Ravenwood to complete her studies.

Camdon held out the handle of Sibyl's trunk, which she took, and turned to point down into the small town. "You go down there, through the tunnel, straight through the Shopping District, into the Commons, and up the hill into Golem's Court. That's where the reagent lives. You'll pass the entrance to Ravenwood on your way. Good luck, missy!" With a jump, Camdon was back in the driver's seat. He reigned the horses in again and began back down the path towards the hidden tunnel that would take him back to Drake Mansion. In moments, Sibyl was alone.

After a few moments, Sibyl lifted her trunk and started down the path into the city. A guard saw her and almost raised the alarm, but after noticing the old Ravenwood insignia on the side of her trunk, gestured her on. The next guard, who was patrolling the Shopping District, scolded her for being out so late but let her be. The third guard was sitting with Diego the Arena Master and playing cards in the shade of an elm, but he and Diego only waved at her. She waved back as she climbed up the hill to Golem's Court, noting the position of the tunnel into the famed school.

Mr. Lincoln, the reagent, didn't take kindly to being woken, and when he saw the odd girl with the light hair and equally light eyes claiming to be a student returning home, the stork pulled out his manifest to check for her name. But Sibyl stopped him and explained herself and the late hour. While she was telling her cover story and hoping that she didn't mess up, she called upon an old Moon magic spell that her grandmother had taught her and discreetly added her name to the manifest underneath the tab neatly labeled, 'Abroad Students' while the stork's attention was focused on her.

When Mr. Lincoln glanced down at his manifest again, he immediately noticed Sibyl's name, settled neatly between Jackson Sandriver and Hannah Unicornsinger. But he could swear there'd only been two names on that list before…

"Is there a problem, Mr. Lincoln?" Sibyl asked innocently. Mr. Lincoln looked from the Diviner in front of him to his manifest and back again. Her name was on the list, but it wasn't supposed to be on the list. But the manifest had a full record of all the students currently in Ravenwood and he spent entire days making sure that it was up to date, organized, and completely correct. Maybe he was so tired that he hadn't seen the name before. And with all the funny names that wizards had today, it was very likely that the letters had all run together in his tired eyes.

"No, no problem at all," Mr. Lincoln finally said, putting one finger on the manifest and switching Sibyl's name from abroad to the pages labeled 'Storm Students' with magic. Then he went back into his house and brought out the key to one of the empty dorms. When a student went abroad, their dorm was simply cleared out and saved for other students. Then they would just put the student in another dorm when they came back.

"You don't have any roommates at the moment. Maybe when Miss Unicornsinger returns you two can be roommates…"

Sibyl thanked the stork before she picked up her trunk again and started back down the hill. Meanwhile, the stork rubbed his eyes, returned his manifest to the locked drawer on his desk, and shuffled back to bed.

The guard and Diego waved to Sibyl again as she filed through the tunnel into Ravenwood. When she was inside, she couldn't help but stare in awe at Bartebly. He was sleeping, one eye closed and the other eye long missing. He opened his eye slightly and blinked down at her before he closed it again and fell asleep again. Turning slowly around, now slightly paranoid about a large tree watching her every move, Sibyl unlocked the door to the girl's dorms and walked down the hallways, looking for her dorm. The hall was bigger on the inside, thanks to magic, so Sibyl had to walk down several different halls before she finally found the number on the key. Dorm 3047.

The dorm was scarcely decorated, with just a bed, a lamp, a shelf, a dresser, and a desk with a stool. For now, this was her home.

After dropping her trunk on the floor and trying not to wake up whoever might be living underneath her (the dorm was one level on the outside but was three on the inside due to the magic, and Sibyl lived on the top), Sibyl padded across the floor and sat down on the bed. It was soft and the blankets already felt warm. After having just a mattress and an old, ratty blanket in a locked room in the dungeon for four years, being given this bed was like being given a chest of gold.

Sibyl laid back and closed her eyes. She'd unpack in a little while and then try to get some sleep before classes in the morning. Even though her cover described her as a Journeyman Diviner (kind of an insult really, considering that she was an Archmage Seer), she didn't know one bit of Storm magic and would have to learn enough to pass as a Diviner until she could return to Malistaire and then back home to Darkmoor.

After lying there for a few minutes and trying to figure out how much work she'd have to do within a few days in order to pass as a Journeyman Diviner, Sibyl sighed and sat up. Time to get to unpacking.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello, peoples! Yes, I am aware of the late update and I really need to stop doing that but suddenly I'm in the mood to get back into fanfiction while my writer's block stews on the sidelines. So…hello!<strong>

**3047, did I really just do that? *Cackles* If you figure it out I'm sorry, I had to…**

**Alex Raventhorn is the property of Starlight in the Sky.**

**Bianca Glassheart is the property of Velvet Masquerade.**

**Sarah Bluesong (the Pyromancer that Bianca duels) is the property of Bluepatch.**

**Destiny Starshard and Sibyl are the property of yours truly.**

**I'm almost done rewriting my story up to where I am. I'm also planning a semi-crossover with the new game that I'm sure we've all at least registered for, Pirate101. But that's a while off now, as I want to finish SotS first. :)**

**Anyway, tell me what you think about the story. Thanks for reading and review!**


	8. Chapter 7: Day Two

**Chapter 7: Day Two**

_Destiny_

"Destiny, Professor Ambrose sent over your schedule! Get up!"

I opened my eyes to see a white stone wall on front of my eyes. I blinked twice, rubbed he sand out of my eyes, and rolled out of bed onto my feet on the floor. For a moment I stood there, looking around, remembering everything that happened yesterday. And also that Bianca had said that we had to be at Ravenwood by eight.

The door flew open and Bianca stood in it. She held out a pair if clothes that looked a mite too small, but would probably still fit. With one raised eyebrow, she said, "Professor Ambrose sent me a letter and told me that you wouldn't have any clothes except what you're wearing. That's a little…weird, honestly. Didn't you bring any others from your house?"

I stayed silent and took the clothes. They were green with red and yellow accents on them, much different than my white outfit.

"I can take you shopping for more clothes during free period," Bianca offered as I took the clothes. "It's just a half hour but we can get a lot done. Plus, we can get you some clothes that aren't all white. Anyway, Professor Ambrose sent you a letter, your schedule, and the key to your dorm. You're in Room 1304. Don't be surprised when the girl's hall is bigger on the inside." I smiled for a moment at that last part.

Bianca handed me the three items and then left to let me get dressed. While I was getting dressed in the clean clothes (they were actually almost the right size, just a bit tight around the waist), I opened the letter and examined my schedule.

_Destiny,_

_I've sent Miss Glassheart these three things, as I've been told by Professor Wu that you're staying with her tonight while we prepare your room. The dorms are on either side of the tunnel entrance right when you come in, the girls on your left and the boys on your right. Yes, they are bigger on the inside. Why? Magic._

I smiled again while I thought of not only the TARDIS but also the Harry Potter tents.

_A few words on the dorms: The dorms hold over three hundred students each, so it's likely that you'll run into many of them on your way in and out. The dining hall serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, at eight in the morning, twelve thirty in the afternoon, and six in the evening respectively. Food is free in exchange for student help with preparation, serving, and clean-up. My awareness is that usually kitchen duties rotate from group to group every week and the schedule is usually posted in the commons of the dorms._

_Your dorms are completely protected from theft due to some rather nasty Fire spells that the alumni placed on them long ago. You are allowed to decorate your dorm anyway you want. Finally, you will be rooming with Miss Sarah Bluesong, a Pyromancer._

_New students are also given a chest to place belongings. Inside there is also a small sack which contains your student allowance, which is refreshed every two months with one hundred coins. Due to the fact that you have no clothes except what you wore yesterday, I've added a little extra. There is no need to pay me back, I assure you. Students usually work around campus and help with odd jobs around the city and in the Shopping District to make more money. Your chest will also contain_

Here he bulleted with squiggly lines,

_~ A library card (I'm sure you will love our library)_

_~ A book on the History of Magic (you'll get the individual sets later, but this explains magic as a whole)_

_~ A book on the History of the Spiral_

_~ A small pamphlet on how to properly hold a wand_

_~ Three scrolls containing 1) The Rules of Ravenwood, 2) The Laws of Wizard City, and 3) The Wizard Code which also explains what is required of our wizards around the city outside of study_

_~ A booklet with maps of Wizard City_

_~ A satchel with which to hold your spell deck, your wand, books, money, and any other items you may need to carry with you_

As I read down the list, I got a little excited. Compared to math, history, and English textbooks, history on magic and new worlds and scrolls and pamphlets and books sounded like so much fun.

_Gamma has examined and reexamined the test that I had you take when you arrived (he's the one who monitors and constantly updates it, anyway) and has told me that you have not only a fantastic aptitude for Theurgy, but also for Divination (Storm magic). I have informed Professor Balestrom of your situation and he is more than happy to add you to his second period roster._

_The schedule may seem a bit odd at first, but I'm sure that Miss Glassheart would be happy to assist you in making sense of it. Students are usually given their core studies first, and then the opposite of their school at the end of the day. For example, a Fire student would be studying Fire first thing in the morning, and then Ice at the end of the day._

_I hope that you have a fantastic first-second day at Ravenwood and in the Spiral. If it suits you, please come for tea at five thirty tonight so we can chat and I can answer any questions you may have._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Merle Ambrose_

_Headmaster of the Ravenwood School of the Magical Arts_

My schedule was handwritten in a hand drawn table inside of a scroll. It did look a little odd at first glance, but upon closer inspection it was actually pretty simple. I'd just have to figure out where and what each class was and meant. I would be having Life from eight thirty to nine thirty, then Storm from nine thirty to ten thirty. After that was Fire (ten thirty to eleven thirty), then Myth (eleven thirty to twelve thirty, and then lunch (twelve thirty to one) and free period (one to one-thirty), when Bianca would show me around and help me find some clothes. The last two periods were Ice (one-thirty to two-thirty) and Death (two-thirty to three-thirty).

Underneath that were a couple of footnotes. The first was about 'Balance' (I remembered the dog, Arthur Wethersfield, from yesterday) and that it didn't yet have a proper school. Instead classes took place in Olde Town after the class met with Mr. Wethersfield. For a moment I wondered why Balance wasn't on my schedule but waved it off.

The second explained a 'Wandless Spells' course and that it was basically a gifted-and-talented after-school have-to-be-asked-to-join class taught my Professor Ambrose's owl Gamma. Underneath the Professor had drawn and arrow to the footnote and written 'We will talk about this at tea tonight if you choose to come.'

The third explained a small 'incident' with the Death school a long time ago and that it was now in Nightshade with Dworgyn, behind the waterfall in the Commons.

The rest of the page contained a large seal that appeared to be the Ravenwood emblem.

"Are you ready to go?" Bianca asked, knocking and then opening the door. I picked up the letter, the schedule, my wand, and the key to my dorm (it was a green piece of smooth wood painted with the Life rune and the room number underneath), and nodded.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

><p><em>Bianca<em>

Destiny seemed pretty calm for her first day, not at all like when I started a few years ago. We got there a little early, at seven fifty, so we sat in the girl's dorms commons for a moment and figured out her schedule.

"There are seven schools. Well, ten, but I'll explain those in a minute. We have Life, Death, Fire, Ice, Storm, Myth, and Balance. People only take Balance nowadays if they actually score that on the test or if they ask nicely if they can study it. There's not a lot of Sorcerers anymore, actually; I've only seen about three kids who wear tan and red and about ten more who study it. And usually they study it because they don't want to take Death with Dworgyn."

"What's wrong with Dworgyn?"

"Nothing, it's just that he's a bit off-putting and creepy to some people. I like him; he's like a crazy funny uncle and if you're bullied or hurt or shoved he won't stand for it. And he brings cookies to class every once in a while. And of course there's the magework..."

"What's magework?" Destiny asked as I trailed off.

"Well, it's a...um...he shows us how to uh...you know what, I can't really explain it. School started about a week ago, so you just need to wait a couple of weeks and you'll find out.

"Anyway, so you'll just go to the correct school when your schedule says, simple as that. The other three schools are supplementary and you have to be a Grandmaster to even think about studying them. They're Sun, Moon, and Stars; I think they're what Professor Ambrose does…The professors always call him an Astronomer."

"Does anyone study them as their main?"

"Oh no, that's impossible. They're just supplementary, not enough spells and lore for it to be a main. Well, not here at least. But all three combined, I guess they could be…Well, they are because Professor Ambr–"

"Hey, are you Destiny Starshard?" We both looked up to see the Pyromancer I dueled yesterday, Sarah Bluesong.

"Hey, I'm Sarah Bluesong, your roommate. Welcome to Ravenwood!"

"Thanks," Destiny said. She barely had the word out before Sarah snapped her schedule out of her hands and looked it over. "Aw, you don't have any classes with me!"

"Sorry," Destiny apologized sincerely.

"Don't be sorry! You've got Bianca for at least two classes, it looks like, so that's good!" Sarah leaned forward and I could hear her whisper, "Until yesterday when you arrived, she used to be popular. But she shunned her group just so she could show you around and make sure you had a friend."

Sarah sprung back and announced, "Well, breakfast time! I've got some makeup work for Professor Wu–Ugh, I'm horrible at Theurgy–so I've got to get breakfast and run. See ya later!"

Destiny looked over at me and whispered, "You dissed your clique for me?"

"Yeah," I explained, "You were new and you looked lost and scared and you were going to need a friend. And they were always making fun of people and when they started making fun of the brand new girl I just snapped."

"Thank you," Destiny whispered, giving me a light hug.

"You're welcome," I responded, smiling. "Let's go get breakfast before class starts, you'll love it!"

After a nice breakfast of eggs and toast, I walked Destiny around and around Bartebly, showing her the schools, the trees, and the towers that the Professors worked and lived in. She noted that it was all a little crowded together, until we got to where the Death school had once been.

"Uh…I assume that this is the 'incident' that Professor Ambrose referred to?"

"Yep," I answered as we stood over the gaping hole. "The professors don't talk about it, but I heard Professor Falmea talking about how someone named 'Malistaire' snapped so quickly after his wife died–hey are you okay?"

Destiny had paled a bit at the mention of 'Malistaire' but she shook it off and answered, "Nah. So what happened to the school?"

"Well, Professor Greyrose said once that Malistaire snapped and used an earthquake spell to sever the school and the tower and send it flying down. They were able to stop the Death school's decent a little so it settled neatly in Nightshade, way down there. Dworgyn was inside and he thinks that the fact that he was in the school is why he survived–he always loved the school and teaching in it–so he's barely every left except to go to his room in the tower. That didn't make it down so easily but he's cleaned it up nicely. Nightshade was just discovered when it crashed, so Dworgyn got to name it and they gave the land to him."

"Excuse me, please back away from the edge!"

I groaned and muttered, "Just ignore him and start walking."

"Who is it?" Destiny asked as we skirted the hole and started up the hill.

"Malorn Ashthorn. He thinks that he was the best student before the crash and now he tries to deal Death magic teaching under the table in exchange for favors. And–"

"Oh, hi, Bianca!" I heard him call just as we reached the top of the hill to go around the hole.

"–I think he has a crush on me."

Destiny glanced back for a moment, wrinkled her nose, and muttered, "He's not your type anyway. Looks like a jerk."

We laughed and continued on until we were on the other side. Students were beginning to mill around and Bartebly announce that it was five minutes till class time.

"That's all I can show you right now. We both have Life class first. You usually get about five minutes passing period but they put the times back to back so students know they can't dawdle. Let's go!"

* * *

><p><em>Destiny<em>

My first period on the first day of school was Theurgy, during which Professor Wu began teaching the next spell for all students. Everyone went at their own pace, so if you were a Magus you would get the level thirty spell but if you were just beginning like me and a couple of other students, we learned the level one Life spell, the Imp.

Apparently almost everyone was given the cards so they didn't have to use the incantations, but were encouraged constantly to learn the incantations because "Someday you might be in a rough spot and not have your cards." Bianca mentioned that the Professors were thinking about making knowing the incantations a requirement in order to receive the card and move on.

Professor Wu also made it clear at the beginning of her class that you shouldn't think that you can just perform a spell without a wand, and that you have to be extremely powerful or extremely advanced in order to perform Wandless Spells. For a moment I was confused, because yesterday afternoon I'd used several spells without a wand. Then I looked down at my schedule in my lap and saw Professor Ambrose's written note about Wandless Spells and figured we'd get that squared away later.

After just a few minutes with the Imp spell example in my hand, I had it down. Taking what Bianca said about incantations maybe becoming a requirement, I even learned the words underneath the painting. Soon, Professor Wu gave me my own Imp card and a small, intricate box to put cards in. The Imp I'd summoned tried to steal it but I just slashed my wand through it, exploding it into leaves and sending it back to wherever Imps come from. Then Professor Wu brought me the next level card example (a Leprechaun), offhandedly mentioned that it was only five minutes in and I'd already done would took at least the whole class period twice over to do, and left me to practice.

After class was over, Professor Wu gestured me over to her desk. I already had three cards (Imp, Leprechaun, and Legend Shield) in my deck.

"You are progressing very quickly for your first day," Professor Wu began. She reached into her desk and pulled out two books, a Theurgy textbook and a book labeled 'The History of Life Magic'.

"I would highly suggest studying these. All the card examples are contained in the back of the textbook, and–now I barely ever do this–I recommend that you do some after-school studying. You are showing very high potential, Miss Starshard. I think that you might soon surpass your fellow Novices."

"Thank you Professor," I stuttered, taking the books and setting my deck box on top of them.

"My pleasure. Have a good day and a good weekend!"

In all the hullabaloo and my first day of school, I'd practically forgotten that it was Friday.

"Hey Destiny!" Just as I was moving on to my next class, Storm, I turned to see Sarah running up. "I got your satchel for you," she began, out of breath. She handed the small bag to me and continued, "You're going to get a lot of books today, it looks like, and you need some place to put your stuff. Oh, and here's your student allowance."

"Thanks!"

"It's bigger on the inside, so don't worry about needing to carry twenty things. See you at lunch!"

The rest of my first four periods moved smoothly. I learned the first Storm spell (a Thunder Snake) from Professor Balestrom (who was a frog, but after meeting a talking cow and a talking dog I didn't say anything) while the other kids wrote theories on how Diviner's accuracy and health could be increased, since the Diviners had the least of both.

Fire went by without anything interesting. Professor Falmea had us all read a chapter out of The History of Fire Magic and then write a brief summary of what we'd read. Fire magic history was very interesting, what with it being one of the original three magics. When class was out again and we left with the book in hand, I had my nose buried in it. When you add magic to something, it gets so much more interesting.

My last class before lunch and free period was Myth. When I walked in, the first thing I saw was a man who looked almost exactly like Malistaire standing at the head of the class, except with lighter hair, eyes, and robes. But his scowl was the same.

"That's Professor Drake," someone said behind me. I turned to see Alex, who had stopped in the door and was leaning inside towards me. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite. He's actually very nice and funny when you get to know him."

And off he went.

Myth went by smoothly. I sat in the back of the room with one of the girls I met in Storm and learned about some basic mythology and lore behind the creatures that Myth wizards (called Conjurers) summoned. When it was over, I was the second person out the door with the 'History of Myth Magic' in hand. Even though the Professor was nice enough, he still scared me a bit. Especially when he looked exactly like (who I assumed was) his brother.

* * *

><p><em>Bianca<em>

At lunchtime, Destiny and I sat at a table in the back of the girl's dining hall. She already had five books in her pack, and, while she was eating, she pulled out the 'History of Storm Magic' and read it in her lap while she ate.

"So, what do you think of Ravenwood so far?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I love it here. It's really a lot of fun."

"Fun?" I tipped my head. "Don't you think it's a lot to take in? And there's a lot of work to be done. And sometimes it's boring."

"Please, this is like a fun park compared to what I used to learn."

"What you used to learn?"

"Yeah." Destiny stopped talking for a moment while I waited for her to elaborate.

"What you used to learn?" I repeated, hoping to get an explanation out of that.

"I'll explain some other time," Destiny whispered quietly. Suddenly Sarah plunked down across from us, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and started eating.

"So hey," Sarah began after she swallowed, "Is anyone up for a duel later on in the Arena? I've learned like three new spells today and I want to try them out. How 'bout you, Destiny?"

"Huh, what?!" Destiny started, looking up from her book and looking around.

"Do you want to have a practice duel in the Arena later?" Sarah asked again.

"Um…I've only learned a few spells… And I'm supposed to have tea with Professor Ambrose tonight…"

Just then I noticed a Life textbook sitting in her bag. Which meant Professor Wu was having her practice by herself, which meant that she had all the card examples in there. And she said that she was having fun and loving school, and she could barely get her nose out of the Storm magic book, so…

"How about Tuesday?" I offered. "Give her an extra day to learn some more spells."

"BIANCA."

"Sure, sounds good. I think I'm going to have some more Life makeup for Monday anyway. Hey, how about we make a bet about it, Destiny?"

"What kind of bet?" Destiny asked quietly as she finished her lunch.

"I'm terrible at Life magic, you're a Life wizard. If I win you help tutor me, and if you win then I…What do you want?"

"Nothing, really. I'll help you out anyway. But I just started, so I don't know how much good I'll be to you."

"That's fine! But if you figure out what you want if you win, then just let me know. Now, I have to go see Professor Drake. Myth is my secondary school, and my Cyclops card tore. Don't know how, don't know why, but it did and I need a new one. And knowing Professor Drake he's going to make me learn the incant in order to get a new one! Anyway, see you two later!"

Sarah stood and went to put her plate in the sink. When she was gone, Destiny closed her book and smacked my shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I started _today_, Bianca! I can't enter a duel!"

"Yes you can. You said that you love school yourself and Professor Wu gave you the Life magic textbook, and every person knows that the textbooks have all the card examples in the back of them. It's obvious that she wants you to practice, and it's crystal clear that you'll be practicing and learning new spells like crazy over the weekend! You're going to be moving up ranks before you even know it and by Tuesday you'll be more than ready to duel Sarah."

Destiny stayed silent for a moment and then sighed, "Fine, you're right. I'll probably be working all week. But I don't have to like that you got me into a duel."

"Hey, I'll make it up to you. You done with lunch? We're done early, so we have forty-five minutes for free period. Let's go find you some new clothes."

* * *

><p>The Shopping District was a bit crowded with people milling around, shopping for food, robes, hats, boots, and whatever else you need when you live in Wizard City. For a moment Destiny was a bit nervous (I don't think she liked the crowd), but when I started pulling her towards the robe shop she calmed down a bit.<p>

The robe shop was empty and Mr. Darkwood wasn't busy with a customer at the moment, so Destiny and I walked right up to him.

"Hello, Miss Glassheart!" the large black man began, shaking my hand warmly in his huge one. "How are you? Your family? Oh, who's your friend?"

"This is my friend Destiny Starshard, Mr. Darkwood," I began. "She just started today and she needs some new robes."

"Well fantastic! Step right over here and we'll get you measured. Now, what's your primary and secondary school?"

Destiny glanced over at me as Mr. Darkwood put on a pair of glasses and pulled out his measuring tape while she stood on top of a little circular pedestal.

"She's a Life wizard and her secondary magic is…"

"Storm," Destiny answered as she caught on, spreading her arms so Mr. Darkwood could measure the length.

"Purple and green will go really nicely together," Mr. Darkwood said. "Now, what did you clothes look like when your professor cast the personality spell on them?"

Destiny described her white outfit from yesterday and Mr. Darkwood nodded when she finished.

"Alright, let me see your coin purse."

Destiny reached into her bag and pulled out the small burlap sack. Mr. Darkwood looked inside and after a moment said, "I can give you four outfits and still leave you with enough money for shoes and hats. Is that alright with you?"

"Yessir," Destiny answered.

"I'll give you a regular outfit, an outfit for colder weather, and a backup outfit for both. Be right back!"

After a few more minutes, during which Destiny and I looked at the beautiful outfits that Mr. Darkwood had put in the store window, he came back with four outfits floating after him, standing up as if they were on mannequins.

"The measurements are perfect and they should fit you just perfectly. As you grow I'll resize them for you if you want to keep them." With a flick of the small wand he kept on his desk, the robes started folding themselves and packing themselves into a box, which then tied itself neatly with a bow. "That'll be one hundred and fifty coins, don't worry, that's barely a sixth of what you have in there, thank you. Now you have a good day!"

"I like him, he's nice," Destiny said once we were out of the robe shop with her box.

"Yeah. He's very nice and fair and if you're ever in trouble, he's one that'll take care of you like you're his own daughter. Anyway, onto boots! Or…we can just get those dyed the right colors for you."

"Let's get another pair and then dye these."

Destiny loved Mrs. Windsong as well, and, while she was back putting the shoes together, said she reminded her of her aunt. Mrs. Windsong brought out Destiny shoes. The shoes were tall like her regular boots and warm-looking, but a bit sturdier.

"I'll go get these shoes and your hat dyed," I told her after she tried on Mrs. Windsong's new shoes and paid her. "You go to the hat shop down at the corner. A wizard's outfit is never complete without the hat. The hatter's name is Ms. Silverthistle, you'll like her too."

After the dyeing was done thanks to Mrs. Whisperwind's magic skills, I met up with Destiny at the fountain. She held her new hat, a shorter one green one with gold accents, in her hands. When we met up, she put on the green one, which looked very nice on her. I handed her the box with her dyed shoes and we started down the path back to the Commons. We'd gotten all the shopping done in twenty minutes and now we had twenty-five more to do whatever we wanted.

When we were back in Ravenwood, I sat down on one of the benches while Destiny went up to see her new home, drop off her books, and change into some better fitting clothes. When she came down, she took a seat and reopened her Storm magic history book to the page she'd been on.

"If the Tritons and the Dragons and the Giants had just _talked_…" she murmured. I laughed and opened up my card box to check over my cards.

"Uh…hi, Bianca."

I looked up from examining my spell deck to see Alex Raventhorn standing next to the bench.

"Hi! Alex, right?"

"Y-yeah," he swept his blue and black hat off of his head and nervously rubbed the fabric between his fingers. Destiny turned her head and looked over my shoulder at Alex. While he was working on what to say next, I asked quietly, "Why's he so nervous?"

"You know why," Destiny answered in a sing-songy voice. "I'll just…give you two some privacy."

"NO," I snapped, grabbing her arm and pulling her back down.

"Um, uh…"

We all sat and stood there for a moment. Destiny was staring at her book but I could tell she wasn't paying a bit of attention to the cutthroat world of Storm Triton royal courts.

"Um…"

"Spit it out, man," Destiny muttered. I shoved her shoulder and Alex gulped before he said, "Bianca, would you…uh, like to come to lunch with me tomorrow?"

Destiny's hand tightened on her book and her smile just got wider while my nervousness just grew.

"Where? When?"

"In Olde Town? Around…noon?"

I'd had boys flirt with me before, but none of them had ever asked me out, not really. Now it was my turn to be nervous. What was I supposed to say?

"Psst," Destiny whispered in my ear. "Your line is, 'Yes, Alex, I'd love to have lunch with you tomorrow.' Anytime."

But I was thinking. Was I strong enough to let somebody in like this? It could be just a date and goodnight, but if it grew into something bigger, could I deal with it?

Yes, I suppose I could.

"Yes, Alex, I'd love to have lunch with you tomorrow," I finally said with a smile.

"G-great! I'll, uh…see you later then."

And off he went.

"Bianca and Alex, sittin' in a tree!" Destiny sang teasingly. I shoved her shoulder but she just went on, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G." I grabbed her book out of her hands and smacked her shoulder like she had earlier just as Bartebly rumbled, "Stop teasing, Miss Starshard."

But you could hear the impossibly old, impossibly wise tree humming Destiny's odd little song. Embarrassed for a moment, I buried my face in my hands.

"Payback for setting me up on a duel," Destiny teased before she stood up, gathering her wand, her bag, and her books. Bartebly stopped humming to announce, "Class resumes in five minutes."

"See ya in Nightshade!" Destiny called as she started off towards the Ice school, even though she knew she had about ten minutes till class really started. I smiled. At least she was having a good first day at school.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello, peoples!<strong>

**I know that I've misspelled Bartebly's name (it's actually spelled Bartleby) but I'm just going to write it this way because that's how I thought it was spelled and I like the pronunciation a bit more.**

**Another little joke with Destiny's room number, though it's not really a joke and it's barely recognizable, and not at all like Sibyl's 3047. (47 is the atomic number for silver. Thirty pieces of silver. I'm sorry. :P)**

**On Sibyl's name: Jessica RavenGlade, thank you for your names, I'm going to use 'Nightpool'. Thank you so much if you submitted and you're all awesome. :D**

**Alex Raventhorn is the property of Starlight in the Sky.**

**Bianca Glassheart is the property of Velvet Masquerade.**

**Sarah Bluesong is the property of Bluepatch.**

**Destiny Starshard and Sibyl Nightpool (last name courtesy of Jessica RavenGlade) are the property of yours truly.**

**I am now done rewriting the story! If you're reading this and you've been here for a while, please go back and check them out, because there's a lot of new details and important things.**

**I'm also planning a semi-crossover with the new game that I'm sure we've all at least registered for, Pirate101. But that's a while off now, as I want to finish SotS first. :)**

**Now that I start thinking about it, I realized that this story is going to end up being LONG. But the quest to save the Spiral will begin soon, and it's going to be a tale of epic proportions.**

**Anyway, tell me what you think about the story. Thanks for reading and review!**


	9. Chapter 8: The Duel

**Chapter 8: The Duel**

_Bianca_

"Okay...favorite author."

I rubbed the fabric of my day-off robe between my fingers, holding my sandwich with the other while I thought of an answer to that question.

Alex and I were sitting on a red and white picnic blanket, on one of the many grassy cliffs in Olde Town. We sat next to one of the old towers and under a beautiful oak tree, overlooking the town below and all the hustle and bustle of the new day.

The wandmaker and his wife were hard at work, making their gorgeous wands and then packaging them in individual boxes, which were then placed on a cart driven by who I assumed was their son to be taken to Ravenwood. Mr. Silverfist was bartering with wizards and families, trying to get the highest and lowest price selling and buying items from and for his bazaar. The craftswoman, Ms. Tangletree, and her nephew/salesman, Mr. Meadowgrass, were sitting at their little stand outside the tower they shared and selling their secrets and their wares to curious wizards. Finally, Mrs. Krendell, famous for her magical clothing that she and her sister Eloise had sold long ago, sat underneath a tree with a scrapbook, rifling through and fielding offers from random wizards who approached with patch jobs or special commissions.

"I like Hans Christian Andersen," I finally answered after taking another bite out of the cheese sandwich in my hand. Alex had apologized profusely for such a simple lunch, but I didn't care. He could've just bought something a bit more fancy in the market, but no, he'd made lunch and put together the picnic basket himself. I'd never been on a date but I was pretty sure that other boys would just buy the lunch instead of using their own time to make it.

"Andersen's a good one," Alex replied, running a hand through his close-cropped black hair. "Which story?"

"The Snow Queen. The ending always makes me cry."

We'd been chatting for at least half an hour, about everything from magic to spells to school to music to books to favorite things. We'd gone from slightly stiff and a bit awkward, both of us shy, to slouching like the teachers always told us not to, laughing, and talking about every little thing.

Alex had an odd way of talking, and when he was talking about something he obviously cared about he'd get louder and more animated, talking with his hands and getting an odd accent to his voice that I couldn't place. When I asked him about what he liked to do in his spare time, he went off on the library and books and reading for about three minutes, and when he got talking and his eyes shone bright, it helped me to relax and calm down a bit.

I was having a good time and when one of my robe sleeves pulled up a bit, I didn't panic and pull it back down. If he could see my scars he didn't ask about them, and if he did, I had the weird feeling that I would answer truthfully and tell him where they'd come from. It was weird; I'd seen Alex around campus, and I'd seen him running around on the rooftops when he thought nobody could see him. He was in my Myth class and I remembered being paired with him for peer reading essays on Krokotopian mythology. I'd had all of two minutes of conversation with him before today, but I felt like I could trust him. Even with this.

All in all, as far as first dates go, I think that this was a pretty good one.

"Okay, my turn to ask a question." I finished my sandwich, wiped off my hands with one of the paper napkins he'd brought, and crossed my legs. I leaned my elbows on my knees and set my chin on my fists before I asked, "Where does that accent in your voice come from?"

Alex's hazel eyes flashed up from pulling out a couple flasks of water from his picnic basket and he stuttered, "M-my accent?"

I sat back and stared at him. All the color had suddenly drained from his face, and his hands were clenched so tightly around the flasks that I wouldn't be surprised if they were dented when his fingers came away. Slowly, Alex gulped and he answered, with a smile on his face, "I'm from this world way out on the edges of the Spiral. Family moved here when I was a baby but I guess the way they talk got to me. Water?"

He held out one of the flasks, and, when I took it and he thought I couldn't see, his face fell and he frowned at his own flask.

I reached out and gingerly patted his back before I consoled, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that asking would make you sad."

Alex looked up again, a real smile on his face this time, and he replied, "Nah, you didn't make me sad! Just reminded me of something and I was trying to figure out what it was. Anyway, what do you like to do in your spare time?"

We talked about our hobbies (he loved reading and helping Mr. Argleston in the library, I liked studying the History of Magic and browsing the Shopping District) for about fifteen minutes, eventually lying back and staring at the clear blue sky with our hands behind our heads. Our picnic blanket lay underneath us with the basket neatly packed up at our feet.

Eventually the old bell tower began ringing, and I counted out twelve long, drawn out clangs from the old brass thing. Immediately Alex sat up and began checking the basket, making sure that everything was neatly packed inside. I pushed myself onto my elbows and watched him for a moment before he noticed me staring and explained, "I don't just help at the library, I work there too on the weekends. It doesn't pay much, but I'm saving up for an island."

"Really?" I asked, standing up and helping him fold up the picnic blanket before tucking it in the basket. Islands cost a lot, about ten thousand coins, up to a hundred thousand for the bigger ones, and if the job didn't pay much it'd probably take him a while to save up enough. "What kind of island?"

"I have my eye on a Watchtower," Alex answered, taking the basket from me and slinging it over his arm before we began traipsing down the path to the Shopping District tunnel. "Lots of library space, plus a huge telescope in the attic. And the particular one I have my eye on has a baby dragon in a cave under the house."

"A baby dragon? Aww, that sounds so cute!"

"He was sleeping when Myrella took me down to the cave to show me everything, but yeah, he is cute-looking." We emerged into the Shopping District and Alex continued, "So what about you? What's your living situation?"

"I have a Myth House, but I'm getting kinda bored with it."

"Bored? I've looked at Myth Houses, how can you be bored with it?"

"I dunno, I just am. I want to spend my free periods looking at houses this week if I don't have homework. I never really use my money on anything and I've been saving up for a while, so I have a few choices. I don't know what I'd like though."

"Well they have the Sunken City, Island Getaway, the other School Houses…"

I didn't notice that his hand was drifting towards mine until he neatly twined his fingers with mine, at which point I jumped back and extracted my hand as quickly as I could. Alex jerked his hand away and we stood in the middle of the Shopping District, me nervously wringing my hands and him staring at me like I was crazy. My palms were stinging again, and where Alex's fingers had touched they felt sore.

"Um…" I began, "The skin on my hands is…tender. From uh, too many accidents mixing potions with Professor Wu. So they hurt if people aren't gentle or don't know and just go for it. I don't like people holding them unless I'm starting the hand-holding. Is that weird?"

"No no!" Alex quickly replied, his cheeks a little red. He was embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. You don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable."

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and smiled shyly. "Thank you. Now, when do you have to be at the library?"

Alex's concerned, guilty frown disappeared into a smile again, and we continued on to the tunnel leading back to the Commons.

"So anyway, back on topic," Alex began, "You've got Sunken City, Island Getaway, the other School Houses, the Watchtower, and of course the Cottage and the Playhouse…"

We continued talking about houses for the few minutes it took us to get to the library, both of us giving our opinions on which islands we liked the looks of. We climbed the steps to the library, and Alex caught the door as a couple of Sorcerer girls walked out with an armful of scrolls each.

"So…" I began, looking for the right words to say. "This was nice. We should do it again sometime."

"Definitely," Alex answered, grinning. "Maybe we could go to see Destiny's duel together? It's on Tuesday, right?"

"Yeah. I'll let you know what time it is on Monday, when Sarah reserves the time slot."

"It's a date then."

"It's a date," I repeated, smiling. For a moment we just stood there, Alex standing in the door and me standing on the top step, before Alex leaned out and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. Then he disappeared into the library, letting the heavy door drift shut behind him.

I stood there on the top step for a few minutes, one hand held against my cheek, my jaw slack, staring at the door. Even if it hadn't been a _kiss_ kiss, I'd never been kissed by a boy before. It was new, and strange, but it did feel nice…

"Hey, Bianca, you okay?"

I turned around slowly to see Destiny standing in the small courtyard with a huge stack of books, the entire 'history of magic' series judging by the various colors, plus the overarching one on top. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her bag was slung over her shoulder with a scrap of white fabric sticking out of it. She had her chin resting on top of the teetery stack of books to keep it steady, and her arms were stretched out straight to hold the thick volumes. She was wearing a brand new outfit, by the looks of it, but no robe since it was the weekend: long black pants and a short-sleeved green blouse.

When I saw Destiny's arms shaking from the weight of the books, and the ones in the middle beginning to bulge out of neat formation, I quickly descended the stairs and took the top four, nudging the rest back into a neat tower in her arms with my elbow. Destiny thanked me before repeating the question, "You okay?"

She started moving towards the small park and lake at the center of the commons, probably to sit down and read and do the essay Professor Falmea had given us, and I walked beside her, answering,

"Couldn't be better."

* * *

><p><em>Destiny<em>

"Heeeey Destiny!"

I turned away from studying the long list of Arena rules to see Sarah entering the stadium and waving at me. I waved back at my roommate and turned back to the bulletin board, half angled towards her, half angled towards the board.

It was about three forty-five on Tuesday, fifteen minutes before our time slot for our duel. According to Bianca's shakedown on how Arena duels worked, the duel would go on from when we started to whenever the next battle scheduled, and depending on when that was the duel could be three rounds and then we'd be kicked out, or it could extend all the way to when the Arena closed. I didn't care how long it went, exactly; I was just hoping that I wouldn't make a fool of myself.

Sarah took the steps two at a time up to me and dropped her bag below the bulletin board, sighing heavily and throwing her head back. "Gahhhh, class felt like it lasted a thousand years today. Did it feel like that to you? Especially Necromancy, ugh. Dworgyn took us on a field trip—and you know, that sounds awesome because you get out of the classroom and get to go somewhere—but then, you won't believe where he took us. He took us to—wait for it—the cemetery. The. Wizard. City. Cemetery. What kind of field trip is that? Whyyy would you do that? Crazy nut…"

"Mmhmm," I replied, only half listening and focusing on the last Arena rule and internally screaming 'Thank you'. According to the last rule, none of the spells actually did damage in here, just caused minute pain (like small headaches or paper cuts, it said) and sapped from a point/'health' meter represented by a colored wheel inside the casting circle. The battle ended whenever the health meter completely dropped, someone forfeited, or we just ran out of time. Being poisoned by another scorpion or something else had been one of my biggest fears about this duel, but this final rule assuaged them.

"And we were supposed to take rubbings of a gravestone and start researching a report on the life of that person. I got the old headmaster, Professor van Helven, before you ask. Dworgyn says that it's so that we know that Death is not just about death, but also a celebration of life. I mean, I get that we need to understand the philosophies behind all the other schools, but still, _the freaking. Cemetery_."

"Yep," I answered, finishing my in depth reading of the rules and turning towards my brown-haired roommate, tipping my head back slightly to look at the taller girl. Sarah reached up and pushed her black, red, and blue colored glasses up her nose and sighed again.

"So anyway, you ready for this?" Sarah asked, rolling up the sleeves on her fiery orange robe. The outfit was a little baggy on her, which I sensed was just how she liked her clothes, but was still clean and elegant, with sashes along the cuffs of the sleeves, down the small V-neck on her collar, and around her middle.

"As ready as I'll ever b—where did all these people come from?"

When Sarah'd been complaining about Dworgyn's lesson for the day (for the record, I liked him; Bianca was right, he was like your favorite uncle), a large group of people had drifted in, each sitting with their friends. The schools were mixed, not like the other day when they'd been divided according to their schools. Sitting near the front row in the Ice section, right across from me, were Bianca and Alex. From the looks of it, they were trading books and talking about them.

I hadn't expected this many people, maybe just Bianca and Alex and then a couple of random people who drifted in to watch whichever duel was on at the moment. Definitely not all this huge crowd.

"Oh yeah, I invited a few people."

I turned towards Sarah again and leaned forward, hissing, "_A few people_?"

"Yee-ep!" Sarah answered, smiling excitedly. "Meet you down in the dueling circle! We've got about five minutes."

Sarah darted away again, high-fiving people as she descended the stairs to the Arena floor and people began cheering for the next duel. Diego the Duelmaster hadn't stepped onto his viewing platform yet, and I assumed that that was when the battle truly began.

I stood at the top of the steps, folding my arms around myself instinctively. I'd never liked crowds. They made me nervous. And having what looked like the entire student body watching me at my first duel wasn't helping my nerves at all.

I took a few deep breaths, closed my eyes, and forced myself to calm down. It wasn't the whole student body, and at second glance the seats weren't completely full. I'd be fine. And Bianca had told me that if I had any questions, to just glance at her and mouth the question, and she'd mouth the answer back.

Right, let's get this done.

I knelt to my bag and flipped open the flap, reaching in to grab my spell deck. I sifted past my history books, a stiff envelope that I had to send to my family later tonight (the winged letter spell had actually worked, and I'd been getting daily letters from my family; I hadn't lost them, not completely), my Doctor Who shirt that I'd lost when I first ended up here (Professor Ambrose had given it back to me at tea on Friday, hoping that it would make this entire situation less stressful), my new schedule (apparently Professor Ambrose had enrolled me in the Wandless Spell class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after school) and finally arrived at my spell deck box. I grabbed it, closed my bag, and nudged it closer to Sarah's before turning towards the Arena.

I began descending the steps, watching my feet so I wouldn't trip, and only looked up when a sea of hands reaching out in front of me blocked my path. People were shouting at me from all sides and reaching out to high five me, looked like. I tilted my head slightly so I could hear properly, and realized that they were shouting "Good luck".

Okay, so maybe this crowd wouldn't be so bad.

I walked down the steps, high-fiving random people on all sides, before I arrived at the Arena floor. Sarah was standing in her circle, sifting through her spell deck, and I took the circle opposite her and slid the lid on my box back, reaching in to grab my already growing stack of cards. Bianca'd lent me some treasure cards (regular spells, with some charm on them so they were stronger) to even out the ten or so cards I already had.

"Wizards!"

The black unicorn appeared on his viewing platform, and the room burst into cheering again. I looked up at Diego, then across to Sarah. Behind her, Alex and Bianca were applauding, only pausing to put their books back into their respective bags, and Bianca caught my eye and mouthed "You'll do great".

"Our duelists today are…Pyromancer Magus, Sarah Bluesong!"

A ton of people in orange and yellow stood up and screamed, cheering for their fellow Fire wizard. A few other people, probably Sarah's non-Fire friends, stood up and clapped for her as well. Sarah waved and drew her wand, a long brown stick embedded with rubies, from her belt.

"And…Theurgist Novice, Destiny Starshard!"

Bianca and Alex joined the group of green-bedecked people who stood up to scream, cheer, and stomp for me. Smiling slightly and forcing myself not to look down and act shy, I waved at everyone and followed Sarah's lead, drawing my wand.

Diego drew his sword and drew a rune I hadn't seen before: a spiral inside of a circle. Immediately a ball of light flew out of the ground in the empty field between us, and rapidly flicked between orange and green before finally landing on green. The Life students cheered again, and Bianca mouthed over Sarah's shoulder, "That means you go first."

"Ladies, prepare your first spell," Diego called, waving his sword. Two balls of light (pips, I remembered) flew from the end of it and flew down to us, dropping neatly into the circular indents in front of us. As one dropped in front of Sarah, it turned bright yellow, and another pip appeared next to it. I furrowed my brow and glanced up at Bianca, and she held up two fingers, mouthing, "Yellow pips are worth two pips. Sarah's wand has enough power that she gets an extra pip at the beginning of each round."

Sarah shuffled the stack in her hands and drew one at random, glancing at it briefly and grinning. I did the same thing and picked out one of my cards, finding an Imp staring back at me.

"And…" Diego waved his sword and the black spell field spun into existence between us and a grass green wheel appeared beneath our feet in our casting circles. Sarah held up her card, studying the rune probably, and prepared to draw it. I'd already memorized the leaf rune and practiced drawing it and the other runes (again, I didn't want to make a fool of myself in any way), so I simply prepared to throw my card. Golden dust from all over the stadium flew to the center and coagulated to form a glowing, spinning golden one, for round one. When it disappeared after a couple of rotations, everyone was dead silent.

"Begin!"

* * *

><p><em>Bianca<em>

I sat down in my seat, glancing over at Alex as he similarly relaxed.

"How do you think she's gonna do?" Alex asked. I shrugged and replied, "When I invited her over for lunch on Sunday her deck was starting to grow. She had about five Life spells and one from all the other schools except for Balance, and I lent her some of my treasure cards to even it out. So…hopefully she'll do well."

"How awesome would it be if she won her first duel?" Alex asked, grinning.

"It'd be totally epic."

Destiny threw her first card into the spell field in front of her, and it hung suspended in the very center, spinning idly, as she expertly drew the familiar leaf rune with her wand and slashed through it. Immediately an Imp appeared, and it began a sing-song taunt at Sarah, using minor magic to cause damage. Sarah flinched and raised a hand to her temple, obviously getting the beginnings of a headache, and flicked her card into the casting field after the Imp disappeared. She drew a rune in the shape of a cloud with a lightning strike coming from it, and slashed it. Immediately the field was covered in a pool of water, and a purple and yellow dorsal fin appeared. The Storm and Fire students cheered and stomped as their respective schools were represented.

I'd never liked this spell. As the dorsal fin zigzagged closer to Destiny and she tensed up, I reached for Alex's hand and gently wrapped my fingers around his. He glanced down at our joined hands and back at me, but didn't say anything, immediately turning his attention back to the fight. But I could see him idly smiling in the corner of my eye.

Destiny's eyes were wide as the shark leaped from the water and attacked Destiny, almost swallowing her. When the shark disappeared after damage had been done, Destiny was soaking wet, and her eyes were squeezed shut. She cracked them open, glanced down at her wrists where the shark's teeth had caught, and let out a breath after only finding a couple of small cuts akin to paper cuts to show for it. At the same time, I released Alex's hand now that the shark was gone and Destiny was fine, and leaned forward in my seat. In my peripheral vision, I caught him briefly frowning.

The used cards reappeared on the pedestals behind the two girls, beginning to glow with a protective force field so they couldn't be snatched. A glowing two to represent round two appeared in the middle of the field and idly spun, and the two consulted their spell decks again.

"She's doing pretty good so far," Alex noted.

"Yep," I said. "But I don't think she liked the storm shark."

Sarah and Destiny sifted through their decks for their next cards and I leaned forward to get a good look at the wheels below them. Destiny's was a sickly green yellow, and Sarah's still green wheel had just a small chunk missing. Health meters were balanced according to your level and your school, so it made sense for Destiny's to already be changing color. I still hoped that she could get pretty far though.

The spinning gold two disappeared and Destiny flicked her next card, which yielded an orange shield with the Fire rune on it. Smart. Sarah's eyes twinged slightly as the shield began spinning around the circumference of Destiny's casting circle, and she glanced down at her similarly orange card. Sighing, she flicked it, and an orange tiger cat with a fiery tail leapt from the spell field. Destiny's shield stopped spinning in front of her and shattered, already protecting her from a good chunk of damage, and the orange cat leapt forward. Destiny was encased in a large spurt of fire, and I found my hand wrapped around Alex's again. I knew it wouldn't hurt her, but seeing my new friend go up in flames was nerve-wracking.

When the fire went down and Destiny pressed a hand over her left eye, already feeling the effects of the magic-induced headache, I released Alex's hand again.

The golden three appeared, and the girls' pips recharged. Sarah had only one now, but Destiny had three. When she'd shown me her spell deck, she had only one three-pip spell, and it was a unicorn. When I'd seen that, and how thin her deck was, I'd given her a handful of three to five pip treasure cards. So she had a decent mix of cards to pick from.

"How many treasure cards did you give her?" Alex asked, turning to me as the girls shuffled their decks again.

"I didn't count. I had a good stash, so I just picked out a random stack and gave them to her."

The three disappeared and Destiny was quick to throw a gold card into the middle. She briefly glanced at me, and I knew what she was asking: "What rune do I draw?"

"Whichever school rune was on the card," I mouthed back. She mouthed a thank you and then drew the profile of the Death skull in front of her. Automatically, a withered gray woman in a torn dress with a mane of hair floating behind her rose from the spell field. Sarah shot a quick glance at the wheel below her before the Banshee flew forward and screamed in her face. Sarah raised a hand to her forehead again when the ghost disappeared, and immediately her spell wheel went yellow.

"She might actually win this," Alex said, his eyes flicking between Destiny's wheel and Sarah's wheel.

"She actually might," I repeated, leaning forward again.

Sarah cast a shield on herself, this one green with the leaf rune on it. Destiny's eyes narrowed, and she went back to fanning her cards out in front of her as the golden spinning four appeared.

The duel went on for about ten rounds after that: Sarah stacked on a bunch of shields and also some traps, and threw a Seraph, a Cyclops, a Minotaur, and also a Vampire. Destiny only had the one Fire shield by the looks of it, and I realized that she'd probably learned it just for this duel. Destiny used a Unicorn on herself, and then cast a Leprechaun, a Sprite, and Spirit Armor. She saved up her pips for a couple of rounds after those, and then cast a treasure Goat Monk, which caused Sarah to end up with both a major migraine and an orange colored wheel.

All through this, I gripped Alex's hand at random, depending on what was happening to the two girls in front of me and how I saw it. After that I'd immediately let go, and Alex would frown. I apologized once, but he was quick to tell me that it was fine, he didn't want me to be hurting, and I let it go.

Near the end of the battle, Destiny was down to two cards, as was Sarah. Both of Sarah's cards were orange, and Destiny's cards were purple and green. Her wheel was also orange, with just the tiniest chunk missing making it smaller than Sarah's.

"Okay, Destiny seriously might win," I began, before Sarah cast a Fire Elf. My smile disappeared as I realized that, with Destiny's low meter, it would probably finish her off in the next couple of rounds.

When Alex gently took my hand, I jumped slightly, glanced down at our now joined hands, and then up at him. He was focusing on the duel, not looking at me at all, but he was holding my hand very loosely, so I could pull away if I needed to. I was about to do just that, but then realized he was being very gentle with my sore hand, like I'd been when I'd grabbed it so many times over the past half hour or so. So instead, I leaned back in my seat and clenched my fingers a little tighter.

Destiny glanced between her two cards, frowning and looking up again to see what shields Sarah had up. She was left with just a purple card and a green card, a Thunder Snake and another Imp if I was correct. Taking the chance with the low-accuracy card, Destiny tossed the purple card into the spell field and drew the rune. She leaned back on her heels, reaching back to pull out her hair tie and fix it as the spell played out.

The Thunder Snake shot out of the center of the spell field and collapsed. I saw Destiny tense up and shiver, and press herself against the force field that kept her inside the casting circle, trying to get as far away from the snake as she could. Looked like she didn't like snakes either.

The purple and yellow snake raised its head and spread its hood, looking around and finally setting its beady eyes on Sarah. Sarah held her breath as the snake slowly coiled itself and then raised its tail, pointing it like we did with our wands, and shot a lightning strike at Sarah. Sarah's head snapped back at the shock and she shivered for a moment, shaking it off, and glanced down at her last two cards again. She eyed her wheel, squinted to see the color of her pips, and grinned as she realized that she had enough for whatever she was planning. She flicked her card into the center, drew her Fire rune, and leaned back to watch it play out.

Three sparks appeared at three points on the edge spell field and sparked to the center, creating an orange portal that a red bird flew out of. Destiny's eyes widened and she glanced down at her wheel and the spinning diamond before her, and then back at the bird. It hovered for a moment before using its wings to blow the fire from the portal at Destiny. The girl went up in flames again, and as the Arena registered that her wheel was completely depleted, pushed her back out of the casting circle. The duel was over, and Sarah had won.

* * *

><p><em>Destiny<em>

Well that was fun.

I stood there outside of the circle for a moment, placing my wand back in my belt, as the black spell field disappeared and the orange spiked diamond vibrated and then sunk into the ground. Our pips levitated out of their crevices and formed a glowing white ball in the air before it changed orange and manifested the Fire rune on all sides. The students began screaming and cheering and the Duelmaster stepped onto his viewing platform.

"Sarah Bluesong wins!" Diego drew his sword and scratched a tally under the Fire rune on his plaque, and the Pyromancers jumped to their feet and screamed, cheered, clapped, and stomped. The ones in front vaulted the wall separating the seating from the Arena floor and began congratulating Sarah, very loudly.

"And may I say, an excellent dueling debut from Miss Destiny Starshard!"

I looked up from rubbing the rapidly healing cuts on my wrists from the shark only to be attacked by a sea of green. The Life students were high-fiving and hugging and applauding me excitedly, almost all of them chanting, "Des-tin-y! Des-tin-y!" I hadn't expected this, not at all, especially since I'd lost. But after a moment of standing there, frozen with the sense of 'I don't like crowds', I relaxed a little and smiled, high-fiving and hugging people back as they congratulated me on my first duel. Eventually, they backed away as Sarah began moving through the crowd. She stopped in front of me, grinning wildly, a streak of dirty blonde hair hanging in her eyes. The Pyromancer held out her hand to shake, and I reached forward and took it. Then Sarah surprised me by pulling me into a quick hug before she let me go and backed away.

"You did fantastically," she said excitedly. Just then, Diego raised his hooves and the Arena went silent.

"The Arena is now closed, ladies and gentlemen! Have a wonderful rest of the day."

The students cheered again as he took a bow and backed into the shadows. Sarah smacked me on the back and said, "I'm gonna go get a snack. See you at dinner! Or in our room! You know, whichever comes first!"

Sarah trotted up the steps, swung her bag over her shoulder, and left the Arena. A few random people congratulated her again and then me, and the crowd steadily dispersed. I collected my cards off the pedestal and put them back in my box, and then turned around, looking for Bianca and Alex. They were standing, leaning against the stone barrier between the floor and the seating, and from what I could see, they were holding hands. Bianca turned and smiled at me, waving with her free hand, and Alex waved back. I waved at them, smiling at the happy couple, and tucked my box under my arm, beginning to move across the now empty Arena floor to them.

Suddenly a girl stepped from the shadows to stand in front of me, folding her hands in front of her. I stopped short and smiled politely, waiting for her to say something, or move out of the way.

"Hi!" she said, smiling widely, making her electric blue eyes flash and seem to brighten.

"Hi?" I repeated, folding my hands behind my back and looking the girl up and down. She was short, skinny, and young looking, and looked so small that I could probably pick her up with one hand. Her hair was braided, but I could see that it was long and silvery. She wore dark purple robes, already identifying herself as a Diviner, a Storm wizard. There were extremely light blue, almost white ribbons around the cuffs of her sleeves, and another, thicker one around her waist, like a belt.

"That was an excellent first battle. You almost beat a Magus, when you yourself are a Novice." The girl's eyes narrowed slightly when she stated the difference in my and Sarah's experience, and I got the odd feeling that she was accusing me of cheating.

"Well," I began, "I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did if my friend didn't give me some of her treasure cards. I only have a few school cards…It's only my third day at Ravenwood, you see."

"Ah," the girl lifted her chin in an odd half nod, her shocking blue eyes flashing again. "I just got back from studying abroad in Marleybone myself."

Where was this conversation coming from? I shifted as the girl stared at me, her eyes still narrowed, and decided to introduce myself to break the silence.

"I'm Destiny Starshard," I said, holding out my hand to shake. The tiny girl accepted it, introducing herself, "Sibyl Nightpool, Journeyman Diviner." I copied her half nod from earlier, pulling my hand from her firm grip, and quickly extradited myself from this strange conversation.

"Well, I've got to go see my friends. Nice talking to you, uh, Sibyl."

I shifted my spell deck down into my hand and walked around Sibyl, moving towards Alex and Bianca. Getting the feeling that she was still watching me after a few steps, I turned my head back slightly. She was staring alright, but not at me; she was staring at Alex and Bianca, her lips moving as if she was talking to herself. O-kay then, she was a bit creepy.

"There she is, woman of the hour!"

I turned my head back as I approached the two and came around to stand next to them, accepting a hug from Bianca and a high-five from Alex.

"For a Novice's first duel, you did very well," Alex praised.

"Couldn't have done it if Bianca hadn't lent me some treasure cards. Where do they go after you use them, anyway?"

"Oh, they disintegrate into the spell field. You don't get them back. Now before you say anything, don't worry, I have a chest full of them at home. They're not as valuable as you would think." Bianca smiled reassuringly and patted my back. "Now, I'm in the mood for something that's freshly made, full of chocolate, and can't possibly be good for me. How 'bout you guys?"

"There's a store over on Fifth makes delicious chocolate ice cream cake," Alex put in.

"That'll ruin your diet for the day," I joked, grinning and throwing my arms over their shoulders. "We should totally get some."

While the two started moving towards the entrance, I ran up the opposite stairs to grab my bag, which was still sitting underneath the bulletin board, and moved to follow them. As I approached, I saw that they were holding hands again.

I smiled as I came to stand at Bianca's other side. They were getting along fine so far, and I'd gotten through my first duel, and I'd officially become friends with my roommate.

Despite the fact that my entire world had changed just four days ago, I was doing pretty well.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello everyone! New chapter! *casually kicks previous update date under the rug* <strong>

**Sooo if you didn't notice, Hans Christian Andersen is an actual author in the Spiral. Since the Spiral has its own versions of various historical characters, this may seem a bit anachronistic. But fear not, it's for a reason…**

**I noticed yet again that I've been using the wrong name/spelling, this time for Nightside, which I've been calling Nightshade. Oh well. But the way I've written it Dworgyn named Nightshade after falling into it when the school fell, and Nightshade seems more like something he'd name a new area, don't you think? WE'LL LEAVE IT. And if I'm lucky that's the very last name change I accidentally make and decide to keep…**

**Anything else anything else…nope! And I promise promise promise promise that I'm not taking a year to do a chapter again. I'm going to try my hardest to make sure the wait doesn't happen to all you lovely people again. Of course, that's what I said last time but I swear I'm trying.**

**Alex Raventhorn is the property of Starlight in the Sky.**

**Bianca Glassheart is the property of Velvet Masquerade.**

**Sarah Bluesong is the property of Bluepatch.**

**Destiny Starshard and Sibyl Nightpool (last name courtesy of Jessica RavenGlade) are the property of yours truly.**

**Thanks for reading and review!**


	10. Chapter 9: Shutdown

**Chapter 9: Shutdown**

_Destiny_

"Well that was _tons _of fun."

I let the realtor's door shut behind me and walked over to the fountain, my hair dripping down my back. I reached back and pulled my soaked blonde hair loose from my braid, leaning over the fountain to begin wringing it out. Bianca just laughed and came to stand beside me, leaning forward so her hair fell completely over her face and beginning to wring it out as well.

"For the record," I snapped playfully, "I am not a big fan of getting wet while clothed."

It was Thursday afternoon, during free period. Bianca'd caught me during Life this morning and invited me to come house-hunting (which she called 'island-hunting') with her during free period. She'd told me that she was getting a little bored with her island and wanted to look for a new one, and thought that a friend's opinion would help her decide if she couldn't.

So we'd gone shopping after eating a fast lunch, and the first house Bianca decided to look at was one called 'Sunken Palace'. Which was, true to its name, underneath a humongous lake all contained on a floating mountainous rock.

"Well, Destiny dear," Bianca began, tossing her hair back over her head and finger-combing it. "You're the one who popped your own air bubble and then decided to pop mine when I started laughing."

"And you, Bianca darling," I shot back, switching from one wrung-out lock of hair to another handful, "are the one who actually likes the sound of an underwater house." I tossed my head back and finger-combed my hair, leaving it down now that it laid flat and out of my way. "Who in their right mind wants an underwater house?"

"Me," Bianca answered, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small wooden comb. She started dragging it through my hair while talking. "And I am in my right mind, just so you know."

"B," I began as she braided my hair like I'd had it before. I'd known this girl for less than a week now, and here we were taking shots at each other and messing with each other's hair like we'd known each other since the day we were born. "The house is waterlogged. There are veritable rivers flowing through it and the lower rooms are flooded. You seriously, _seriously_ want a house like that?"

"There are still tons of houses to check out. And since you have never gone island-hunting, we're going to explore them all just for fun. And then we'll decide which one I like."

"Fiiiine," I sighed, standing up and turning to her, holding out my hand for the comb. She set it in my hand and I brushed out her hair as well, though there wasn't much to brush out since she'd already finger-combed it. "Thank you, again, for drying us off with that Fire spell. Unfortunate that it doesn't work on hair though…"

I tossed the comb back into her bag and looked around for the nearest sundial or clock, seeing that it was only one fifteen.

"We've still got fifteen minutes before our next class," I said, turning back to the gray-eyed girl. "What do you want to do now?"

"Mmmm, I dunno," Bianca tapped her chin and looked off into the distance, deep in thought. "Don't you have to tutor Sarah for Life class?"

"Nah," I replied. "She was impressed that I almost beat her, even though I told her ten billion times that you helped me, and said that I didn't have to if I didn't want to. I'm still helping her out though, at night after dinnertime."

I couldn't offer my roommate much since it'd only been a couple of weeks, but after she pulled out a science textbook and told me that Professor Wu also taught science and chemistry, and that she wasn't too great at that either, I'd been more than glad to help her out. Science was my second favorite subject back home, anyway.

"Okay. Hmmm, I don't know what to spend the next fifteen minutes on then…"

"Shopping?" I offered. "Library? Are there any movies or plays or concerts or something going on that we can catch fifteen minutes of?"

"Movies?" Bianca asked, raising her head. "What are movies?"

So that was different in the Spiral too. Probably no television or radio either. Yet.

"Eh, something I had back home. Nothing too important."

"Alright. The Fire Elves on Firecat Alley put on plays though. But it'd take us fifteen minutes to get to the theater, so there'd be no point in going down there."

"Okay…window-shopping sound good?"

"Yep!"

We walked and chatted, spending lots of time examining the various wares the shops had. We'd just decided that now was the time to get back to Ravenwood before our next class before a sudden scream silenced all the steady chatter of the crowds in the Shopping District.

Bianca and I glanced at each other, eyes wide, before we turned around, looking for the source of the scream. The crowd had turned as well, and when the scream came again, I realized it was coming from the Commons.

"Come on," I said, drawing my wand at the sound and beginning to elbow my way through the crowds, towards the tunnel. I had to see what was going on, and try to help if I could. Bianca was at my heels, drawing her wooden wand embedded with jades and slipping her spell deck into her other hand.

The crowds parted as they saw our wands (apparently not everyone was capable of wizardry, so the wizards were comparable to SWAT teams or something) and Bianca and I raced down the tunnel, towards the Commons. When we emerged on the other side and took a few steps forward so we were past the buildings, we were nearly bowled over by two screaming girls. I held my hands out to stop one and braced myself, accidentally pushing her to the ground, and helped her up while Bianca caught the other girl in a bear hug.

"What's going on?" I snapped at the girl. Her eyes were wild, her dark blue hat barely held in place by the hairpins she used to keep it on her head. She looked young, maybe twelve or thirteen, and was clutching a wand with a crystal at the end in her hand.

"What's going on?" I repeated. The girl pointed behind her, swiveling her head, and screeched as a black, purple, and pink mass flew straight into the four of us. The two girls screamed again as they fell, and Bianca and I quickly shot to our feet and stood in front of them.

There were five dark fairies hovering before us, all holding small needle-like swords in their tiny hands.

"What?" Bianca said with a note of confusion in her voice. "The dark fairies shouldn't be here, they never come out into Commons…they shouldn't be able to get past the shield between Unicorn Way and the Arena square."

The fairies started chattering in some language, and before I could open my mouth to ask Bianca how strong that shield was, the fairies touched their swords together. A purple and black mass floated from each of their swords to form one large mass, and when the fairies whipped their swords away, the blast flew forward. Straight at me and Bianca.

"Run!" I yelled at the two girls before the blast bowled us backwards. We flew across the Commons Lake and at the buildings on the other side, and I instinctively tensed up.

I was stopped by a stone wall, my head smacking against it, and I fell forward on my hands and knees, holding one hand to the back of my head. Bianca had flown a little farther, straight into the waterfall that hid the door to Nightshade, and when she emerged she was soaking wet again, just like before. And she didn't look too happy about that. I pushed myself to my feet, still holding my head, and waited for Bianca, the Master Theurgist in this situation, to take the lead.

Bianca opened her mouth and hissed something that sounded a lot like the mysterious incantation language, and she raised her wand, drawing the yellow eye rune for Myth. She slashed through it, and immediately a Cyclops appeared, standing in the middle of the lake. It lifted its head, looking around, and when it saw the dark fairies it ran through the water, lifting its hammer high. When it began to swing the hammer downwards, the fairies chattered again and scattered, except for one that was promptly smashed by the giant's stone weapon. One down, four to go.

I still hadn't gotten the technicalities for how an informal battle worked yet (assuming that the battle with the draconians and duels were 'formal' battles), but I followed Bianca's lead. I drew the cloud and lightning rune for Storm, said the incantation for the Thunder Snake, and imagined it appearing underneath the fairy hovering a little ways down the street. I slashed the rune and the snake appeared just where I'd envisioned it, coiled itself, and shot a lightning strike from its mouth up at the fairy. The poor thing shrieked before the lightning connected. For a moment she looked like a cartoon character getting zapped, tiny arms and legs stretched out wide with an electric arc zipping through and around her, before she disintegrated. The snake laid its head on top of its coils, closed its eyes, and appeared to go to sleep.

"Bianca, what do we do now?" I yelled over as the Theurgist moved to a better attack position on top of the stone bridge and slid her card box out of her bag.

"Keep a focus on the spell, say the incantation or throw the card, draw the rune, and try not to get hurt!" she yelled back, this time drawing a Fire rune and throwing a card at her target across the lake. The card stopped spinning once it was on dry land, and when Bianca slashed her wand through the rune, it yielded forth her Helephant.

The elephant trumpeted and raised its fiery sword, slashing it downwards towards a fairy that was trying to escape the yelling Cyclops on her tail. The fairy spun and her eyes went wide just as the sword connected, and she went up in flames. Unfortunately, the Helephant's sword also slashed the Cyclops across the abdomen, and the Cyclops disappeared in a bright yellow light after dramatically falling to its knees.

"Two more?" Bianca yelled back. I counted backwards and nodded, turning side to side to look for the missing two fairies. Suddenly they flew chattering down the street, and a loud and angry voice yelled something and a bright blue flash flew at one. Immediately one of the fairy's boots was encased in ice, and she fell forward. The other fairy spun and shrieked something in her high voice, raising her sword. I could see that purple and black mass beginning to form again at the tip of it.

Bianca immediately rushed forward and threw herself bodily at this fairy, throwing it and herself into the lake. I darted after her, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the lake just as she threw a blast of greenish-gold light at it. The fairy exploded like all the others had a few days ago when I met Alex, leaving shreds of clothes and a small needle-like sword floating atop the lake.

The last fairy was busy trying to pull her boot free of the glacier that encased it, but her attempts to get free were ended as a bright blue blast flew at her, exploding her just like Bianca had with her last fairy.

"Is that all of them?" Bianca asked, glancing at me. I nodded, before I caught a flash of red on her hand.

"Looks like that last one got you," I noted, pointing at the small cut. Bianca nodded and raised her hand to her face to check it out, and, seeing it was comparable to only a small paper cut or cat scratch, rinsed her hand in the lake and stood up again.

"How do we get rid of our friends over there?" I asked, gesturing at her Helephant and my Thunder Snake.

"Oh, you just slash through them or dismiss them like so." Bianca raised her wand and drew the Spiral rune I'd seen Diego using the other day. Immediately her Helephant disappeared, and I copied her, my Thunder Snake disappearing as soon as I'd drawn the new rune.

"You two okay?" Alex called, running down the street, stowing his frozen wood wand back in his belt. So he'd been our friend with the Ice blast.

"Yep," we both said at the same time.

"Remind me to research battles later on," I told him as Bianca looked around the Commons.

"Guys, where is everyone?" she then asked, waving her hand around. I cocked an eyebrow and looked around, just realizing that Alex, Bianca, and I were the only ones in the common area. The two girls were gone.

Alex copied my looking around and turned back to us, saying, "Yeah, where is everyone? Even if there were only a few fairies, the entire student body should be up in arms taking care of them."

"No idea," Bianca said. Just then I heard the shouting, and the screaming, and the crying.

"Do you guys hear that?" I asked, looking around, tilting my head, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

"Yeah, it sounds like it's coming from the Unicorn Way tunnel…"

The three of us jogged across the bridge and around the corner to find a huge crowd of people standing in front of the Unicorn Way tunnel. A battalion of guards, all carrying spears and wearing red tunics with the Wizard City emblem on the front, stood in tight formation. They were holding the crowd back, away from the tunnel entrance.

"What's going on here?" Alex hissed, scanning the crowd and trying to see past them all to the tunnel entrance. I stood up on my tiptoes and scanned the crowd, before I saw my roommate's brown and blonde streaked head.

"Sarah's over here, maybe she'll know." I began elbowing my way through the crowd, my two other friends following me, and clapped a hand over Sarah's shoulder. She spun with a jump, a hand reaching for the wand in her belt, before she saw it was me and relaxed, cocking a hip and folding her arms.

"Sarah, what's going on?" Bianca came up behind me and stood on her tiptoes, trying to see past the crowd as well.

"Apparently there's another wave of dark fairies and skeletons and ghosts," Sarah answered. "They're trying to get into the Commons. A few fairies got through, but it sounds like you guys got them. I think the guards are working on pushing the wave back and getting everyone on the street here to safety now."

"You sure?" Alex called. I turned and saw that the boy had shimmied his way up the side of a building and was perched on the roof so that he had a good vantage point. I'd almost forgotten that he was a talented acrobat. "Because it looks like they're shoving people back through the tunnel."

"Wait, what?!" the three of us immediately shrieked. I turned and elbowed my way through the crowd again until I was at the front of the group. The guards were forming a human chain across the front of the Commons crowd to keep us back, so I ducked so I could see under their thick arms.

Sure enough, I saw a guard shove a woman back through the tunnel, where she was passed through another group of guards until she was on the other side, standing with another huge crowd in the square in front of the Arena doors. There was another human chain of guards holding this rowdier group back, and it looked like they were indeed trying to keep people inside Unicorn Way. Inside the street, I could see a huge group of ghostly blue figures floating over the unicorn statue in the middle of the small park, spinning and looping and occasionally throwing themselves at an invisible wall. The shield.

"Whoa." Bianca and Sarah had come up behind me and were ducking to see as well, and when Alex joined us he knowingly told us, "The shield's not going to last much longer…"

"How many people are in there?" I asked, scanning the crowd on the other side. Bianca held out one hand and counted in her head, before she answered, "Maybe two hundred? Give or take another hundred?"

"Wait, Diego's in there too!" Sarah shrieked, standing up straight. Sure enough, I could see the black unicorn standing protectively in front of two wizard girls on the other side of the tunnel.

A guard wearing a purple sash over the red tunic suddenly yelled something that I couldn't make out, and the human chain in Unicorn Way broke away. The guards began swinging their spears in wide arcs as the crowd surged forward towards the tunnel, and backed towards the tunnel themselves.

When all the guards were through, spears still pointed outwards at the crowd, the head guard shouted, "Close the first gate!"

The message was repeated down the line of guards, and then another one was relayed back. "Closing the first gate!"

A spiked iron gate (a portcullis, I recalled) started to slowly close over the tunnel entrance on the other side, and the four of us gasped as we realized what was happening.

"They're leaving all those people inside," Bianca spoke out loud. At that moment, I decided that I wasn't going to stand for this. I wasn't one to stand for unfairness and cruelty and corruption, but back home I was always too far away from the source of it to help or stop it. But now I was right there, and I wasn't going to let any of that continue on or win this time. I darted forward, under the guard's arms, and grabbed the head guard's arm, letting my thoughts spill out of me.

"You can't do this! There are hundreds of ghosts and monsters inside there and you're leaving all those people to them!" I shouted, throwing glances down the tunnel. The first portcullis was almost to the ground.

The guard looked down at me with malice bright in his eyes and shook his arm, as if he was trying to shake off a bug. I locked my hands in place and braced my feet, shouting again, "There are innocent people in there! They haven't done a thing to deserve this! You can't just leave them to the monsters!"

"Get down, little girl," the guard hissed at me.

_Bam! _A huge wooden gate slammed shut behind the portcullis, completely blocking off our view to the street and the people inside.

The guards inside the tunnel backed away a little, and the guard I was hanging on to shouted, "Close the second gate!"

"Closing the second gate!"

Another portcullis slowly dropped, and I realized what these gates were for: they were creating compartments in the tunnel that evil creatures–or people–would have to fight through to get to the Commons.

A flash of green and red and yellow flitted past us, and I saw Bianca weaving past guards towards the end of the tunnel. She dropped and slid under the dropping portcullis like a baseball player sliding into home, and grabbed two circular handles on the wooden door, trying to pull it open.

"What the–Get that girl out of there!" the head guard shouted angrily. While he was distracted with Bianca, I turned to the other guards, still hanging on to the head one's arm, and shrieked, "You are tasked with protecting this city, and the people inside! If you leave those people to the evil creatures inside, you're failing that task!"

"Yeah!" Alex ducked under the human chain like Bianca and I had, and deftly jumped away as one of the guards tried to grab him. He spun on the human chain, alternating between talking to them and yelling at the ones in the tunnel, and said, "I've known some of you for all my life! You're good people, I know, but if you leave all those people in there, you're no better than the creatures we strive to fight!"

_Bam! _The next portcullis hit the ground and another heavy wooden gate closed over it. I flung a glance down the tunnel and saw that the one of the guards was holding Bianca in his grasp, trying to pass her to the next guard. But she was kicking and flailing, and when she kicked the next guard in the face and swung her fist at the other one's nose, they dropped her. She raced to the second gate and tried to pull it open again, even as the head guard ordered that they "Close the third gate!"

A third portcullis began closing, this one just a bit farther down from the second gate. The other guards vacated this compartment while one remained inside, trying to wrench a stronger-than-she-looked-Bianca away from the second wooden gate. All through this, Alex and I continued to talk and yell, trying to persuade the guards to stop and try to save people instead of leaving them for dead.

"Someone make these kids be quiet!" the head guard yelled at his subordinates. "Get this one off of m–Oh for crying out loud!"

An orange and red blur flew past me and ducked under the third portcullis, her sleeve catching and tearing on the spiked end. Sarah skidded to a stop at Bianca's side and helped her pull at the handles as well.

I took this newest distraction to pull the guard's ear down to my mouth and hiss, with the tone I got when I was especially ticked, "There are _children_ inside that street. If they're dead when you open those gates again, you are responsible for the deaths of children."

Alex was still speaking to the human chain and the guards in the tunnel, and it looked like he'd also whipped the crowd into a frenzy. They were yelling at the guards, calling them a few choice names. I could make out 'coward' and 'murderer' among them, and I wondered if this wasn't the first time that the guards had done something like this.

"That's enough!" the head guard roared right as I took the crowd's words and hissed them into his ear, making sure to mention the children again. Cheap shot, maybe, a bit cruel, yes, but I was angry and starting to see red, and if it could save the people inside Unicorn Way, then I was all for it.

The guard threw me off of him and I hit the ground, right as a pair of guards pulled Sarah and Bianca kicking and screaming out of the tunnel. Another one grabbed Alex, and the third gate closed with a _Bam!_

"Close the last gate!" the head guard shouted before turning to the four of us. Another guard hauled me to my feet, and I yanked my arms away and stood defiantly with my friends. The last gate began to lower hurriedly, and when the portcullis had dropped large silver doors slid from the stone walls on either side to cover it. That was four gates, three compartments, and a few hundred people left on the other side, at the mercy of the evil creatures on Unicorn Way.

The head guard turned to the four of us and hissed, "You children should be ashamed of yourselves. I am older and smarter and wiser than you, and I make the decisions on how to protect this city! You should be thanking me! Now those monsters won't ever get through and rip any of you apart!"

He turned to the crowd and projected his voice, calling, "If you go to Ravenwood, go to your next class immediately! The rest of you, go back to work! We will detain and charge any dissenters!"

The crowd dispersed, some grumbling, a few stragglers calling the guards murderers and cowards again (they all scattered before the guards could detain them) and the head guard turned back to the four of us. I glanced side to side at my friends to see how they were doing. They defiantly held their heads high, not at all ashamed like this man said we should be.

"If any of you step another toe out of line, I will be having a talk with Headmaster Ambrose, and I will make sure that you are punished. Understood?"

The silver doors slid together with a mighty _Clang! _and the street was sealed off.

Oh, I understood. But that didn't necessarily mean that I cared.

* * *

><p><em>Bianca<em>

I picked dejectedly at my steak that night at dinner, leaning my chin on one hand. Next to me, Destiny was taking her nearly palpable anger out on her steak, sawing at it. Across from me, Sarah was staring down at her food, her hands mussing up her hair. Alex was in the boy's dining hall, but I was sure that he was experiencing similar sadness, anger, or guilt. Or maybe all three at once.

"They left hundreds of people to die—" Destiny hissed, sawing off a stray piece of fat and pushing it to the other side of her plate. "Completely disregarded what they're meant to do and shut all those people inside a dangerous street—" She speared a tiny cube of meat and began eating it, still working on sawing the rest of the pieces into cubes while she chewed.

All around me, I could hear people gossiping about what had happened this afternoon, and I could hear sad and angry statements being tossed about.

"My roommate was in there dueling her sister!"

"Diego was inside!"

"There are a tons of people on that street, and probably more monsters than there are humans. They'll all be dead by midnight."

"Did you hear about the four kids who tried to stop the guards?"

"Yeah, a couple of them went into the tunnel and tried to pull open the doors…The other two were yelling at the guards…"

Everyone was talking about it, and everyone already knew where they stood in this situation. When I'd first sat down after getting my food, I'd heard a voice that I knew was Rachel's say imperiously, "Well, I for one am glad that the street is shut off. All those monsters pose a danger to us wizards and Ravenwood—"

Needless to say, I immediately moved to a table near the back of the room.

I pushed a pea around my plate with my fork, not feeling at all hungry. I'd tried to pull open the gate. I'd tried so hard. I was stronger than I looked, but apparently I wasn't strong enough to pull open huge wooden doors by myself. I couldn't even budge them. I'd failed all the people on Unicorn Way. Those families, those children, those wizards, Diego…

"Ugh!" Sarah slammed her hands down and sighed heavily. "I should've burned it. I should've burned that door down and melted the portcullis and I should've been able to do it I should've been able to help I should've been able to h—"

"Sarah," Destiny said, her angry mumbling giving way to gentle consoling. "It's okay."

"And besides," I put in, finally forcing myself to spear a piece of steak on my fork. I had to eat something, after all. "If you had cast a Fire spell in that small space, it would've just funneled the fire back out of the tunnel and into the Commons, and we'd all be in a worse place."

Sarah raised her head and stared at me, a glint in her eyes and a word on the tip of her tongue, but she dropped it and stared down at her plate again. I took a bite of steak off of my fork and found that it tasted dry and dull on my tongue. But I forced myself to swallow it anyway and rested the fork on my plate again.

Destiny had finished her food already (I could see angry scratches all over the plate from her steak knife), and now she sat with her hands on either side of her head, staring off into the distance, obviously thinking hard about something. Every few moments her arms would shake and she'd grit her teeth, and then she'd relax again.

"Wizards!"

I raised my head to see Professor Wu, Professor Greyrose, and Professor Falmea drifting into the room. Someone went into the back and brought out a stool for Professor Greyrose to perch on, her being a fairy and all, and sat back down again. Destiny dropped her hands and focused her attention on the professors, and Sarah swiveled on the bench to listen as well.

"We, unfortunately, do not come bearing good news," Professor Falmea stated in her clipped tone. I flinched, waiting for a death report, or something along that line.

"There has been a sudden influx of evil creatures on all the streets in Wizard City," Professor Wu announced. She held up her hooves for silence as worried mumbling echoed around the room, and she continued, "Some of our friends have turned on us. The Fire Elves on Firecat Alley attempted to burn one of our wizards alive. The Cyclopes and Trolls on Cyclops Lane chased a few of our guards out of their street. Even the undead and haunted from the Dark and Haunted Caves have flooded the streets and attacked our people as well."

The mumbling began again, and I found my mouth dropping open. These creatures…they were good. Along with allowing us to summon them to help us in battle, they provided several jobs in the City. The Fire Elves put on plays and helped to set and monitor controlled fires. The Cyclopes and Trolls were exceptional builders when it came down to it, and helped to haul and replace stone and masonry where it was needed. The undead, despite what you'd think, kept up the cemetery and were the City's morticians, pathologists, and detectives. None of these creatures had a reason to turn on us. There was equality and peace between us and them, but now…

What was going on in my City?

"For your own protection, dears," Professor Greyrose called, hovering over her stool. "We must insist that you all stay within Ravenwood, the Commons, the Shopping District, and Olde Town." A shout rose up as everyone immediately began protesting. I stayed silent, even as Sarah stood up and joined the people. Destiny looked like she had tuned everything out, returning to her same position from before.

So now we were confined to only four areas of the City. No going to see a play on Firecat Alley, no going to help the Cyclopes with their new building project, and no—well, most everyone stayed away from the undead despite everything…

"We will begin to speak with these creatures and fight back if the need arises. However, though we have already had to destroy a few creatures that got through our defenses, they were immediately replaced, and it may take some time before these streets are safe again."

Immediately Destiny's eyes snapped towards the teachers (so she was paying attention), and she stood up, raising her arm high. Professor Wu noticed and called across the space, "Yes, Miss Starshard?"

Destiny licked her lips and swallowed, and asked in a clear, loud voice, "What about the people on the other streets? Will they be abandoned like we abandoned those on in Unicorn Way?"

The mumbling began again as Destiny waited for an answer, and Professor Falmea raised her arms for silence. Professor Wu stepped forward and answered the question, in her calm, kind voice.

"No, we will not abandon the people on the other streets. The decision to close down Unicorn Way with people inside was not run through the proper channels, but it is too late to reopen it without taking precautions first. The street is crawling with evil creatures, and…" She trailed off, and I knew that she meant to add something along the lines of, "Even then, we are not sure that the people inside will have survived a direct attack from the evil creatures."

"This is insane, this is insane, this is insane," Sarah muttered, running her hands through her hair as Professor Wu continued to speak.

"However, if worse comes to worst and we are not able to come to an understanding with the various creatures, we may have to close down these streets…and leave people inside."

People began shouting again at that last part. Instead of leading the charge like she had this afternoon, Destiny sat back down and resumed her thousand-yard deep-in-thought stare.

"This is not up for discussion," Professor Falmea took control over the room again. "You have five hours until curfew, and if any of you are missing at that time, or are caught outside of your boundaries, you will be punished accordingly. Good evening."

The three professors turned and walked out of the dining hall, and immediately the room burst into chatter again. Destiny was still staring, Sarah was still mussing up her hair, and I pushed my plate away from me, not able to eat anymore.

This entire city was going to the dogs. First the guards had left hundreds of people to die in Unicorn way, then our friends had turned on us, and now we were confined to a small area of the city. This was insane. And I didn't like it at all.

Beside me, Destiny slowly stood up. She picked up her empty plate and downed her glass of water in two long gulps, and sighed.

Braid flipping, she turned to the two of us girls.

"Bianca," she said in a calm voice. But it wasn't a happy calm, no: there was an edge to it, a hard, serrated edge, and I immediately knew that when Destiny was beyond ticked, she got this sharp-calm tone to her voice.

"If you don't mind, would you please go ask Alex if he'd meet me in the square in front of the library? Tell him to bring his card deck, and his wand, and as many treasure cards as he can fit in his box. If you two ladies would do the same, that would be excellent. I'll be at the library, on the front steps. Good evening."

Destiny crouched, swung her bag over her shoulder, and slipped her wand into her purple-colored belt. Then she turned, carrying her empty plate and glass with her, and walked away. Sarah and I watched her stop and put her dishes in the bin to wash and then leave.

I turned to the Pyromancer and asked, "Was that weird to you too, or was it just me?"

"Nope, that was definitely weird," Sarah answered. "Now the question is: do we do what she asked, or do we n—What are you doing?"

I stood, dumping my food onto Sarah's plate, and swung my bag over my shoulder. I turned to the wall and drew the spell coordinates to my island, and a door appeared on the wall. I turned around to see Sarah half-sitting, half-standing, and answered, "Look, I've only known Destiny Starshard for a week, but already, if she asks me to do something, I'm going to trust her and do it. Go get the stuff she asked for, I'll grab Alex, and we'll meet you guys at the library."

I opened my door handle without looking and walked straight onto my island, letting the door drift closed behind me. I dropped my bag there by the door back to the Commons then and made a beeline for the teleporter up to my house. I had that entire chest of treasure cards in my room, and I knew that, for whatever it was Destiny was planning, I was going to need as many as I could carry.

* * *

><p><em>Destiny<em>

I sat on the steps of the library, furiously writing in my notebook and looking up every few moments. The others should be here soon, and when they got here I had to be ready.

My heart was beating crazily and the sensible part of my brain kept screaming, "You are insane!", but I ignored both warnings. I had a plan, and I was going to go through with it even if my friends yelled the same three words at me.

I looked back down at my notebook, which was propped open over a book on battles. Sure enough, there was a difference between formal and informal battles: formal battles were duels and one-on-one things, or confined space battles, and informal battles was when you fought an entire group or just cast spells without the dueling field appearing. There weren't any pips or turns in informal battles: you just had to know your own limits and had to be fast enough to defeat your enemy before they defeated you.

Hopefully I could be fast enough.

I heard footsteps and closed my book, slipping it into my bigger-on-the-inside bag and closing the flap. I left my notebook out, slipped my pencil behind my ear, and stood up as I saw Bianca and Alex approaching. Bianca had not one but two card boxes in her hands, and I grinned as I saw that my friend had taken my request to heart.

"Wait a sec, wait for me!"

Sarah raced in from the opposite street, dropping her bag at the foot of the library steps and setting her hands on her hips. She had changed, looked like, to something a little more formfitting.

"Alright, Destiny," Alex said, setting his bag down at his feet and folding his arms. "Why did you call us here, and what are you planning?"

I turned slightly, looking past the library to the silver door that sealed off the Unicorn Way tunnel. There were two guards standing on either side of it, looking tired and bored.

"Oh Bartebly," Sarah sighed. "She's looking at the tunnel. Destiny, dear, please please please tell me that you aren't planning what I think you're planning."

"Well, Sarah old buddy old pal," I answered playfully, trotting down the steps. "You changed into something more formfitting than your usual clothes, so I'm guessing that you have at least an idea of what I want to do and prepared accordingly."

The taller, older girl glared down at me but sighed, kicking open her bag to reveal two card boxes, like Bianca. Alex did the same, revealing two boxes as well. So my friends did have an idea.

"Alright, Destiny, tell us what you're planning," Bianca finally said, stepping forward and dropping her bag at my feet.

I grinned, then sighed, then took a deep breath. Alright, no going back now. I'd made a promise to myself, that I'd go through with this even if my friends didn't agree, and if they didn't I had to live up to that promise.

"I want to get into Unicorn Way and get all of those poor people—or at least the ones left alive, if that applies—out of the street to safety."

"Yep, I was right," Sarah sighed, leaning back on her heels and crossing her arms. But she wasn't immediately telling me off. The other two were silent, and for a few moments we all stood staring at each other.

Alex stepped forward and held out his hands, and I handed him my notebook, flipping it open to the plan that I'd been mentally planning out for the last hour or so. Alex's eyes roved the page, and it was silent between the four of us as he examined my ideas.

In the week that I'd known Alex, I'd realized that he was a very, very smart boy. Whether it came to magic or incantations or lore or just schoolwork in general, Alex was a walking, talking encyclopedia and strategist. He knew what he was talking about, and right now, he knew whether this would work or not.

"This is pretty solid," Alex said then, slamming the notebook shut and handing it back to me. "If we can stick to it and make it past the guards, I'm in."

My face broke into a smile, and I turned towards the other two girls. Bianca was sitting on the sidewalk, digging through her card deck and rearranging it. She looked up, stood, and smiled. "I'm in too. We can't just leave those people there, and even if they're all d-dead…" Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath, "At least we'll be able to avenge them."

"Right, let me see it," Sarah stepped forward, and I handed my book to her. She read through the plan (divided into sections based on what each person would be responsible for) and the few diagrams I'd made, and then handed it back to me as well. "I'm in too. But one amendment, if you would…"

"Yes?"

"Even if the people are alive and there's no avenging to do, we try to destroy as many evil creatures as we can. The ghosts, the fairies, the skeletons…we take them down too."

I'd toyed with this idea, but I hadn't wanted to add it until I'd read up on battles. But now that I had and I understood how it'd work, I was more than happy to make this amendment.

"Done," I answered.

"Alright then," I handed my notebook to Bianca, the only person who hadn't seen it yet, and began to speak, outlining the operation. I had the regular plan and a parallel contingency plan (in case something else changed) to get through the gates and reinforce them again when were inside, and figured that I'd go from there or consult my friends on the matter if they agreed to come.

"Tonight, after the teachers come through to check that we're in bed at curfew, we sneak out. Bianca and Alex, you distract the guards and get them away from the tunnel, get them to stay wherever they are, and then come back to the gates. Alex, where are the mechanisms for all the doors and portcullises?" I turned to the smartest boy in the group, knowing that he would know the answer to that.

"They're inside the walls, in the guard towers. The guards are only in there during the day, but we still wouldn't be able to sneak up there. But you have apparently planned for that." Alex added this last part with a grin. I nodded and turned to my roommate.

"Sarah, you said you could burn through the doors and melt the metal? Can you do it without causing it to all funnel out and cause a huge fire?"

"Yep. But…you guys should probably stand back when I do it, just in case."

"Got it. So Alex and Bianca distract the guards, and Sarah and I will work on the gates. Sarah, we need to keep the last set of gates, or at least the portcullis, so we can close them again and leave the rest of the City at least somewhat protected. Bianca, you're the most powerful out of all of us, so you lead the charge. Clear us a path through so we can get inside, regroup, and close the last gate and reinforce it so the creatures can't get through." Bianca nodded, closing my notebook and handing it back again.

"If everyone's smart, and at least someone should be," Alex noted, "Everyone inside should've made a run for the Hedge Maze at the end of the street. Lady Oriel, the seraph caretaker of the fairies, has enough power that the creatures can't come inside. The Hedge Maze should be a safe zone. So if we can get there, and other people have made it there, then we can regroup and figure out how to get them out. Lady Oriel might already have been thinking about how to do it, so we'll talk to her and figure it out."

"Our priorities are the people," I continued. "We make sure that they're safe first, and then fight. If they're all in there, we leave them in the Hedge Maze with Lady Oriel and then take out as many creatures as we can. We could split up or stick together, what do you guys want to do?"

"We should split up, two people near the Hedge Maze, two near the Arena, so we can try to clear it from the outside in," Sarah spoke up. "I'll stick with Alex and we'll take the front; we can run back on the rooftops. No offense, Destiny, but you're still a Novice, so you should partner up with Bianca."

"None taken. Is that alright with you, B?"

"Yep," Bianca answered, crossing her arms. "But you do know, Destiny, that this won't be like an Arena duel. We could actually get hurt."

"Oh, I know. I thought long and hard about that, and I really don't care. It's better for one person to get hurt and a few hundred others to remain unscathed. Right?"

"Right," my three friends repeated. Sarah stepped forward and added, "And we'll have healing spells, and shields, so we should be fine."

"Okay." I knelt and slung my bag over my shoulder again, and my friends copied me. I looked around at my three friends and smiled, realizing that they could have easily walked away when I first told them what I wanted to do. But they were all still here, ready to go.

"Then tonight," I said. "We are going to liberate Unicorn Way."

* * *

><p><strong>Look at that, it took me just a week to write this! (I thought it was going to be done on Thursday because I got a burst of creativity, but oh well.)<strong>

**I'm going to camp this Friday through Sunday, so chapter ten might not be uploaded on Sunday like I want. It still might be, but don't hold me up to that. At the latest (if that applies), chapter ten will be up on Tuesday.**

**Alex Raventhorn is the property of Starlight in the Sky.**

**Bianca Glassheart is the property of Velvet Masquerade.**

**Sarah Bluesong is the property of Bluepatch (now ).**

**Destiny Starshard and Sibyl Nightpool (last name courtesy of Jessica RavenGlade) are the property of yours truly.**

**Thank you for reading and review!**


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